Remnant of a Rose
by ptabs0101
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple recon mission but then a Guardian finds herself looking at a broken moon and a planet that was definitely not Earth. Yet she can't help but find all of this so familiar to her somehow. Whatever the case, Guardian Summer Rose will do what she must to prevent another planet from falling to the forces of Darkness. (Spoilers for Volume 3)
1. Red like Roses

AN:

I have recently found myself with a lot of free time to do a story that I really wanted to happen for a while now.

For those who are fans of my other stories, I would like to announce that I'm back in the Fanfic business. I'll still focus on real life but I will also put some time in working on my other fics.

Sadly, Young Lamb of Justice and Eleanor's Utopia has been discontinued.

Remnant of a Rose

Chapter 1

The tip of her sword burrowed into the snow as she fell to one knee. It seemed to be the only thing keeping her in an upright yet kneeling position. Liquid that was red as roses dripped from several places on her body and stained the pristine white snow like crimson Rosarch art. It took her a moment to realize that they were really blood pouring from a multitude of injuries on her body. Many were superficial with only one or two that were actually life threatening but she was most likely going to bleed out if she doesn't get medical attention soon.

But that was the least of her worries.

Darkspawns surrounded her from all sides. It was like she was about to drown in an ocean of black and white with the fishes having fangs and claws. The desire to feast on her broken body could clearly be seen in their red eyes. They were practically salivating at this point.

Correction. They were drooling from what she could see from all that's left of her already blurring vision.

Outnumbered, surrounded, losing blood fast and could barely even move. The odds were heavily against her. The only thing that she could hope for at this point was a quick death but she doubted that would be possible with these monsters.

Using her sword as leverage, she pushed herself up with every strength that she had left. Her bones cracked, muscles screamed in protest and mind nearly blacked out from that simple movement but she continued on regardless until both feet were placed firmly on the ground.

She almost crashed back down to the ground if she didn't lean on her sword to support her exhausted legs. With the deepest breath that she ever took, she pulled her weapon out of snow and raised the blade into her preferred combat stance.

She was not going to give them the satisfaction of an easy meal. Her body may be broken (and possibly her mind as well, judging by the amount of blood that she lost) but her spirit remained wholely intact.

Without warning, blood began to well up at the back of her throat, forcing her to violently hack it out and add more red to the icy mixture beneath her.

Her lung must have been damaged from how it now hurts to even breath and for a very brief moment, her will to fight faltered ever so slightly. What was the point in fighting if the very act of breathing brought her closer to death?

It appeared that the younger Darkspawns took her moment of weakness as a sign to strike. They charged at her injured self with reckless abandon while the older Darkspawns kept their distance. The older ones were quite aware of the sheer number of their kin that she had slaughtered and what she was so they were cautious enough to steer clear from her.

For now.

As the younger Darkspawn shortened the distance between them, she entertained the idea of just letting them kill her without a fight so they would both be done with it already. It was complete agony to even stand let alone fight. It felt like only death would release her from this suffering and oh God dammit, she welcomed it. Besides, what does she even have left to lose if she gave up now?

"You're the bestest superhero ever! Of all time!"

With grace that you wouldn't expect from one so injured, she twisted her body away from the claws of the first creature in such a way that it seemed the barest milimeters between cloth and claw. As she finished her spin, her sword went through the Darkspawn's back and sliced it in half from the shoulder to the waist.

She kicked off the ground with a flip to evade another Darkspawn attempting to maul her. Using the momentum of the flip, she cut off the second Darkspawn's arm while still in midair. The moment her feet touched the ground behind the second Darkspawn, more Darkspawn rushed at her with the clear intent to overwhelm her with numbers.

Despite the fact that her legs should have collapsed by now, she easily dodged the Darkspawns by stepping into the small openings between them. These openings were so small that she could almost feel their fur brushing against her as she stepped past them.

Once she had sucessfully evaded all of them, she spun herself to face the horde of Darkspawn that tried to kill while her right foot dragged through the snow in a half-circle to halt her forward momentum. She then changed her posture to something like the starting position of a sprinter and launched herself forward, looking like a red and white comet gliding across the snow. She dashed past the Darkspawn repeatedly while swinging her sword left and right. To the untrained eye (and to even some of those who were), she looked like a blur as she weaved in between the Darkspawn.

As quick as her attacks on the Darkspawn, she reappeared at the very same spot where she launched herself from with her blade held out to the side and white cape flowing from the wind. The Darkspawn behind her appeared to be unharmed at first sight but they all crumbled into several bloody pieces a split second later.

The side of her mouth lifted up to a small bloodstained grin before she violently hacked out more blood while her sword nearly slipped from her numb fingers.

If she was in peak condition, that feat wouldn't have left her winded. In fact, she could have pulled it off few more times without any problems. But she was pushing her damaged body way past what it can already take by performing that move and it was beginning to take its toll on her. She would very much like to lie down and quietly slip into the abyss right now.

But she wasn't finished just yet.

Raising her blade once more, she charged at the encroaching horde of Darkness while fully aware that this would be her final battle. But at least she was going to kill every single Darkspawn that she can before she fell.

One last image appeared in her head but it wasn't about the monstrous Darkspawn or her impeding death. No, this image-this memory gave her a sense of peace yet a hint of regret.

Two girls no older than ten smiled at her as if she was the most important person in the world to them. The older one had long blonde hair and lilac eyes while the younger covered her head with a red hood so not much could be seen of her but she could clealy see the silver eyes and a smile even more radiant than the Traveler.

How she wished she could see them smile one last time.

"I really hope you girls would forgive me for breaking my promise one day."

00000

An alarm loudly went off and jolted the Hunter from her slumber. She fumbled blindly to end the annoyance. She grinned as her fingers felt a very familiar object that would surely help her current predicament.

BANG!

"Ah, much better," she sighed in content as she placed the powerful hand cannon back under her pillow after shooting her alarm. Since she could still feel the heat of the of the gun through the pillow, she sat up from her bed instead of laying back down.

The hand cannon that she kept under her pillow used to be what she would normally carry into battle but it was replaced after acquiring Thorn. A Guardian would normally dismantle the older gun for more Glimmer and spare parts but being the weapon nut and hoarder that she was, this Guardian could not bare to get rid of it entirely so she kept it under her pillow as some sort of lucky charm to chase nightmares away.

It doesn't actually work, considering her dream earlier but it was the thought of having a weapon within easy reach while sleeping that counts.

"That dream again," she furrowed her eyebrows in contemplation over the dream that she had.

It wasn't the first time that she had dreamt that specific dream. It used to occur more often during the early years of being a Guardian but it became less so over time. With how the dream reoccurs every now and then, one in their profession would think it to be a vision of things to come or something along those lines. After meeting with several Warlocks that were well-versed in these things, they were able to ascertain her dream as something other than a dream.

They told her that it was a memory of her past life before she was revived as a Guardian. To be exact, it was the memory of her death.

Not many Guardians can remember their past life. They have only vague recollections at best. There's no clear explanation on why this was so but there are some theories to it like the Traveler was limited to what it can bring back so most of a Guardian Initiate's memories and experience was lost in the process but some manage to remain if they had a big impact during the Guardian's past life. Like their first death for example.

No matter how many times a Guardian dies and revives, they can never forget their very first death.

Her mind flashed back to the many claws and teeth tearing into her skin and the feeling of complete hopelessness. She had to repress a shudder at that unwanted memory. Indeed, it wasn't something that anyone including her could forget.

If that was how she died in her first life, then she could see why the Traveler chose her to be a Guardian of the Hunter class.

"I told you many times to stop doing that, Guardian," her Ghost, Drei (pronounced as "dry" and is also German for three in case you were wondering) interrupted her train of thought while floating lazily over the destroyed device, "If you're just going to keep breaking them, then why bother buying an alarm in the first place."

"Oh right. Sorry about that, I guess," she replied, rubbing the back of her head in embarassment, "I thought I had it turned off though."

"Actually, I turned it back on."

"What!?" she exclaimed incredulously, "Why would you do that!? You know darn well that I was planning to sleep in today! I need my beauty rest, you know."

"You should also know that Guardians don't actually need to sleep," the Ghost countered, ignoring the idignant "But I like sleep!"

She already does know that Guardians don't need to sleep though. In fact, Guardians don't require the basic human neccessities. The Light that fueled their powers also replaced the need for sleep, food, water and even air. A Guardian could survive in the vacuum of space without anything but they have the tendency to go insane if they're stranded there for too long.

Even though Guardians didn't need to eat or sleep, it doesn't mean that they couldn't indulge themselves with food or an occasional nap whenever they wanted to. She herself was guilty of partaking in these indulgence more often than not. She just couldn't find the cons of eating as much sweets as she wants without the worry of getting fat or diabetes.

"And you also told me to wake you up in case you were called in for an urgent mission," Drei continued, fully aware of her about to slip back into Dreamland.

"Can't they just send someone else instead?" she groaned, covering her eyes with her pillow. That turned out to be a bad idea since her head was now lying on top of the gun that the pillow was previously concealing. Guns were terrible cushions.

"Most Guardians skilled enough for this mission are preoccupied with another one and cannot abandon them at the moment while the rest are too far away to make it on time."

"Duty calls," she thought with a sigh. She slid her slender legs out of the comforting warmth of her bed and placed her feet firmly on the floor. She stood up and began her early morning stretches. She hummed in satisfaction as she felt several joints pop.

"Drei, suit me up," she told her Ghost.

Without a word, her tank top and pajama bottom were replaced with her Hunter armor. She did a bit of shadowboxing as the Ghost Angel gauntlets covered her arms and the Gravebreaker 1.3 wrapped around her torso. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she then kicked her Jackknife 1.3 cladded legs in the air.

She ended her imaginary spar with a flourish as the Frumious Cloak materialized. Its white form billowing against her back.

"You always manage to make a spectacle of yourself even when no one else is watching," Drei motioned his little pieces to resemble an eye roll.

"Hey, I look awesome," she retorted and with a nod, her helmet, Order's Mask appeared over her head, "Don't go dissing my epicness."

"I will consider it if you stop acting like a dolt," the Ghost deadpanned.

"I'll stop if you stop being a meanie," she pouted from under her helmet, crossing her arms and looking away as she did so.

"And you wonder why most Warlocks and Titans can't stand you."

"But you still love me, right?" she quipped.

"Debatable," he snorted with good humor. They have been through so much that they were comfortable enough with each other's presence to banter back and forth like this.

But their banter could wait for now because they had something important to do.

"Give me Bolt-caster, Patience and Time, Fair and Square, and Thorn," she listed off her chosen armaments. In spite of her armory being filled to the brim, she preferred to carry four weapons (excluding her knives) at a time.

Bolt-caster materialized on her back while Thorn materialized on the side of her thigh. Fair and Square was placed in her hands while Patience and Time remained in reserve.

"Alright, patch me in to the Tower," she said as she made the final adjustments to her personal loadout. This mission better be important enough to disrupt her much awaited free time.

"Establishing connection now."

"This is Guardian Summer Rose reporting in for duty."

00000

In the space in between Mercury and Venus, a ship flew. It sped deep within the territory of the Darkness and far from the safety of the Tower and gleamed like a dark blue flash in the blackness that was space. Summer Rose sat within its cockpit and stared at the viewscreen in front of her, trying hard to not fall asleep again.

There had been reports of increased Vex activity in this sector. Under normal circumstances, it would have been dismissed as another attempt to strike at the Cabal but the Vex went through great lengths to prevent the scouts from finding anything deeper than that. If it was preparation to attack the Cabal, then the Vex wouldn't have bothered to hide it from them.

It was no secret that the Vex and the Cabal were sworn enemies and would kill each other if given the opportunity. There was even an unspoken agreement between them and the Guardians. If the Vex had plans to cripple Cabal forces on Mars, then the Guardians would not interfere until it had been implemented, where they would then capitalize on the losses that the Cabal and Vex had sustained.

With that said, it was at least safe to assume that whatever the Vex were doing would be highly benificial for them. For the Guardians, most likely not.

But Summer didn't really care for any of that exposition even though it was her job to find out what the Vex were up to.

"I'm so booooored!" the young Guardian complained mentally. She agreed to take the mission because she thought that there would be some action but it was more like a glorified scouting mission.

Sure, any new intel on the Vex was worth its own weight in Glimmer and she was one of the only Guardians with the highest chance of not getting caught or killed by Vex patrols but by the Traveler, she did not just hyped herself up from bed for nothing!

"Why did it have to be me again?" Summer asked as she began to play with one of her knives. This would be dangerous to an ordinary person but Summer was an expert when it came to handling knives because any decent Hunter must be adept enough to not stab themselves with their own knives even by accident.

"Like I said, you were the only one available for this mission and the sooner that we can gather intel on the Vex's plans, the more time that we could prepare before they enact them," Drei explained idly, having expected for her to ask, "Plus, we still have that stealth drive that Cayde gave us."

"Didn't that malfunction at the worst time possible and nearly got us stranded in space?" the young Hunter arched an eyebrow as she remembered piloting Eris Morn's ship with the aforementioned stealth drive. She was lucky that they were close enough to make a jump for the Dreadnaught or they would have most likely died on that 'test flight'.

"Well yes but the stealth drive still held some merit so I had it upgraded and installed in our ship after it was salvaged from the wreckage of Eris Morn's ship."

"Wait, when did you find the time to place an order like that?"

"I did it while you were drooling over that new ship with the many guns," Drei replied.

"I was not drooling!" Summer exclaimed indignantly, "I was just appreciating its design!"

"I'm sure you were. It's not like you have a weapon fetish or something."

"I don't have a weapon fetish!" she vehemently denied as she tried and failed to stop herself from blushing.

"The fact that you spent more time than necessary to go over your weapons while talking to them like they were your children disproves your claim just as much as it supports mine."

Being caught flat-footed, Summer desperately sought for anything to change the subject without getting called out on it. Fortunately for her, one of the screens flashed a warning that could help her get out this.

"Oh look, incoming Vex!" she quickly pointed out, "Better activate the stealth drive before they see us."

"Activating stealth drive," Drei sighed as he proceeded to do so. He knew that this was Summer's not so subtle attempt to divert the conversation from her apparent obsession with weapons but it should be set aside for later.

The NS22 Cloud Errant briefly flashed a tint of yellow before disappearing completely. Originally, the stealth drive combined with Hive hybrid ship would make them totally undetectable by Hive forces but with the upgrades that Drei added to it behind her back, it was now able camouflage from the other servants of Darkness, not just the Hive. It should keep them from being seen by the Vex.

At least in theory anyway.

Summer held her breath as she saw Vex ships approaching their location. As they flew past her ship without a second glance, she let out a sigh of relief. Thank the Traveler that the stealth drive actually worked this time.

"Let's go see what the Vex are up to," she announced, gunning her invisible ship forward at high speed. It wasn't fast enough to strain the stealth drive but it was fast enough to get her to the objective quicker.

Guardian Rose knew quite well that it wasn't a good idea to stay deep in Vex territory for too long even with a stealth drive. She also doubted that the stealth drive would last long for them to make a clean getaway. It malfunctioned last time after all.

Summer needed a good place to spy on the Vex and she figured that Mercury's moon would be a suitable vantage point for them. As they neared the small planet's lone moon, Summer realized one crucial fact.

Mercury doesn't have a moon.

Summer slammed down on the brakes as hard as she can before they could get any closer to the false moon. Taking a closer look at it, she wondered why she had mistaken the metal construct for a moon.

"What the hell is that?" she whispered to her tiny companion, both still reeling in shock at the sight before them.

"I don't know, Guardian. I don't know."

The massive construct consisted of two fifteen kilometer long curved metal arms surrounding a set of rings five-kilometers across. It appeared to be inactive from how it showed no signs of moving but they didn't know how long that would remain to be so.

They shouldn't be so surprised that the Vex managed to create something like this. The Vex were able to convert an entire planet into one giant machine after all. Who knows what else they could accomplish with their otherworldly technology.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't seem turned on at the mome-" she started to say after recovering from her shock but was interrupted by the previously inactive construct powering up. The set of rings began to rotate in a gyroscope-like manner as a purple energy began to form within the rings.

"It's a transfer gate," Drei gasped in realization, "It's one giant transfer gate."

"…shit," she stated in a perfectly calm manner, "Well, we got what we came here for. Now let's get outta here before something else ha-"

"I'm picking up fluctuactions in the power conduit!" the Ghost cut her off with a cry of alarm. The Guardian and Ghost were both aware what happened last time before the stealth drive failed.

"Block all attempts of our transmissions being intercepted! I'll send everything we learned to the Tower!" she yelled as her fingers danced over the controls. It was just an image of the massive transfer gate and its general location but it was better than nothing.

"There! The Tower has been notified, Guardian," Drei announced with relief.

Not a moment too soon, the Cloud Errant flashed red before becoming visible once again.

"Oryx's balls!" she cursed, directing the ship to get out of there as soon as possible, "It's time to leave before any of the Vex spo-"

Summer was once again interrupted by another occurrence that was not good for her wellbeing.

A multitude of Vex ships dropped in from FTL and blocked her way out.

She gritted her teeth at the overwhelming number of Vex ships. She didn't stand a chance to fight them off or escape. If there were less maybe, she could have pulled it off with some damage to the ship but their backs were up against the metaphorical wall.

Summer flashed back to the memory of her first death and could not help but point out some parallels between it and her current situation.

Outnumbered and surrounded.

There was one other thing that was similar to now and her first death: she wasn't going to give up just yet.

She continued her flight towards the Vex ships while firing at many as she can. Only a few were actually shot down as the rest evaded her barrage with expert skill.

The Guardian growled in frustration as she was forced to perform a barrel roll to dodge the enemies' counterstrike.

The Cloud Errant may have served her well on many assignments but it wasn't the best ship in terms of firepower. It had sacrificed that in exchange for manueverability, which was one of the only things preventing it from being blown up.

"Hey Drei," she said almost casually as missiles chased after their ship, "Any idea how long it would take for reinforcments to come help us?"

"Considering how far we are in Vex space with no transmat zone," the Ghost began to calculate, "They won't arrive in time to save us."

"That's what I was afraid of," she sighed as one of the missiles blew up on their ship. The hull of the Cloud Errant was damaged but there was no breach just yet. The ship's occupants knew it wouldn't be long before that really happened.

"In spite of your many faults, I'm glad that I found you, Guardian," Drei solemnly said to her, beginning an impromptu eulogy, "You were always rushing off recklessly to every battle that I'm a bit surprised it took you this long to get permanently killed."

Summer ignored her Ghost's somewhat touching speech in favor of finding a solution to their current predicament. It wasn't the first time Drei started spouting praises concealed by thinly-veiled insults during a life or death struggle and it certainly won't be the last as long as she had something to do about it.

Dammit! If only there was a way to transport them instantaneously from one place to another, then could have been long gone by now.

The Hunter halted for a split second in realization and nearly took another hit if it wasn't for her Ghost taking control of the ship.

"Have you gone mad!?" Drei exclaimed at her in frustration as he did his best to not get them blown up. He would have called her more derogatory words if he didn't see the familiar gleam in her silver eyes.

Drei knew that look quite well. It appeared whenever Summer Rose had an extremely dangerous and insane plan. For a moment, the Ghost regretted not letting themselves be exploded. At least he knew that it would be a relatively quick death compared to what's to come.

Summer regained control of the ship from the distraught Ghost and pushed the afterburners to the max. The Cloud Errant blasted off faster than it ever had before, leaving Vex ships in the dust as it approached the gigantic transfer gate.

Having not expected that she would head for the transfer gate, the Vex were momentarily at a loss on what to do. But that was set aside as they went off in quick pursuit of their target. They knew that they would not be able to stop the Guardian from passing through the transfer gate but they could at least inflict heavy damages to her ship before it goes through the gate.

She would then be forced to make an emergency landing on the other side or risk immediate destruction. The other side also lacked the means and materials to conduct repairs on her damaged ship, essentially leaving her stranded on wherever she landed and allowing the Vex to deal with her at a later time.

The Vex watched the Guardian's now heavily damaged ship enter the grand transfer gate. Even if one Guardian managed to reach the other side, they would not be able to stop what was to come.

After all, one Guardian was not enough to save a Remnant of a forgotten world.

00000

AN:

Here is the first chapter of Remnant of a Rose. I hope you enjoyed it.

Not much is known about Summer Rose so I just sort of combined Yang's thrillseeking adrenaline junky personality and Ruby's childishness. Tell me if you like my version of Summer Rose.

In case you haven't realized, the Vex pretty much built a Mass Relay to Remnant. I honestly couldn't think of any other way to get Guardian Summer Rosse back to Remnant that hasn't been done by other Destiny crossovers already.


	2. Fills my dreams

AN:

Just a slight warning to the readers. If you were expecting everything bad that happened in Volume 3 would be prevented or fixed with Summer Rose's presence, then you're wrong. I've seen a number of stories where adding a new variable fixed every problem before they could actually happen and I'm tired of that. One of the best parts of a story is its conflict. So if you go on how Summer is going to fixed everything and let everyone live happily every after, I might be tempted to make everything a whole lot worse. The Vex are heavily involved in the story after all.

In spite of all that's happened, I kind of liked how Volume 3 ended. It showed how a happy and carefree life could be turned upside down because of one bad day. Like what Yang said in End of the Beginning, sometimes bad things just happen.

Summer Rose may be more powerful now than in her previous life but she is just one Guardian. One person, no matter how powerful, is not enough to save everyone. They can only save as many as they can. Keep that in mind.

Chapter 2

"How is this possible?" Summer asked in disbelief, "How could this happen?"

The Cloud Errant had several hull breaches, forcing her to wear her helmet to prevent the discomfort of not being able to breath (not like it would kill her). The comms was the first thing that the Vex crippled thus removing their option of calling for help. The shield generators were shot to hell and most likely wouldn't be able protect them from a single laser fire. The warp drive was rendered inactive and there was a leak in the engine. The guns couldn't be fired without the risk of blowing themselves up along with it. The power conduit also received some damage from the Vex's assault but could still be easily repaired.

All in all, it would take weeks to fix the whole ship if they had the proper tools and materials.

But how in the Traveler's name did the stealth drive come out of that unscathed!? It had failed them twice! TWICE! And both times, it somehow survived without a single scratch on it.

Guardian Rose was tempted to shoot at the stealth drive to even everything out but she couldn't because it was connected to the power conduit. Damaging the stealth drive could also harm the power conduit even further, which was the only thing keeping them afloat at the moment. Pity.

"Why oh why did you think it was wise to go through a transfer gate?" Drei groaned, "Especially one that we had absolutely no idea where it goes!"

"I didn't hear you come up with any bright ideas, buddy," Summer retorted as she got up from the pilot seat, "Now quit your complaining and find out where the hell we are."

"Just so you know, I blame you for all this," the Ghost said as he began scanning the nearby constellations.

While her Ghost was making an estimate of where they were, Summer made her way to the engine room. She lacked the required skills to completely repair the engine but she was competent enough to plug up the engine leak. Besides, the whole ship would eventually explode if it weren't taken care of soon.

After a while, the Guardian left the engine room, successful at her endeavor.

"Ah," she exhaled victoriously at a job well done while spinning a roll of duct tape with her finger, "No matter what age we live in, nothing beats duct tape."

Tossing the very useful roll of tape to the side, she sat back in the pilot seat and turned to her Ghost. From what she could tell from his expression, he looked agitated. Drei not scolding her for repairing sensitive equipment with duct tape was also another testament to how serious whatever troubling him was.

"What's up?" she questioned as she set the ship to autopilot.

"I got good news and bad news," Drei conveyed to her, "Which one do you want to hear first?"

Guardian pondered over this for a moment before coming to a decision, "Let's get the bad news out of the way first."

"We are no longer in the solar system or at least _our_ solar system," Drei revealed.

It took her a few seconds before what the Ghost said fully sank in, "Say what?"

"The constellations here don't match up with ones back home and there are four less planets than there should be."

"Say what?"

"It's not exactly common knowledge but our solar system isn't the only one," he clarified, "The older Guardians knew that there are more solar systems out there but they decided to focus on their own solar system first before sending any scouts to the others. It would also be a waste of resources to even attempt to leave our solar system at the time."

"How come?"

"The scouts would have to traverse through Cabal, Hive and Fallen territory all at once to make it to the edge of our solar system. Even if they did manage survive all of that, the trip back would surely be the end of them."

" _That makes sense,"_ Summer supposed, cupping her chin in contemplation. The journey to just one of those three was pretty dangerous but still doable. Going through two at once was just suicide. Three would be virtually impossible.

Like what Drei said, the scouts would have used up too many resources to reach the edge of the solar system if they somehow made it past all three so they won't have enough to survive the trip back. It really was a waste when those same resources could be put to better use in dealing with their many enemies.

"So what you're saying is that the Vex created a way to reach other solar systems?"

The Vex would also face the same problem if they want to expand their reach to other solar systems except they would have to go through the Guardians along with everyone else. That would certainly explain why they built that massive transfer gate in the first place.

"Actually, it's more like they somehow hijacked ours," Drei corrected.

"Huh, ours?" she inquired, bemused, "But I thought you said that we haven't traveled to other solar systems yet."

"After the Collapse that is. It was during the Golden Age that they succeeded in intersystem travel and even colonized a planet or two. Unfortunately, the planets outside of the Sol system were cut off when the Darkness attacked and the device that they used to escape was destroyed or so we thought. The Vex might have found and built a connection to it."

"How did you figure that out?"

"Your carelessness notwithstanding, we're not the first ones to attempt to go through a transfer gate but we're the first ones to succeed. If it was a true transfer gate made by the Vex, it would have rejected us and expelled us back out."

"But it didn't," she noted.

"Exactly," Drei did the Ghost equivalent of a nod, "The people of the Golden Age most likely built the gateway to accommodate themselves. Since it was originally intended for humans and possibly Exos as well, the Vex couldn't change it to block out humanity, not without blocking themselves as well."

The Ghost's explanation could be considered as crazy and impossible but Ghosts' minds function as fast as supercomputers. He wouldn't be telling her all of this if he hadn't already deliberated over every possibility and arrived at an appropriate conclusion. Plus, he did have some time to think it over before sharing it with her. What Drei told her had the highest chance of being the truth or at least some of the truth. They did lack all of the facts after all.

"So where does this leave us, Mr. Exposition?"

"Because _this_ leads to the good news," he declared, "If we land on a planet that's a remnant of the Golden Age, there's a chance that we could rediscover Golden Age artifacts, maybe repair our ship and transport ourselves _back_ to the Sol System while we're at it. In fact, I have already set the ship on course to the nearest habitable planet (at least in human standards anyway)."

"Sweet, I can't wait to tell Cayde about this," Summer rubbed her hands in anticipation, "He's going to be _so_ jealous."

It was impossible for Ghosts to get migraines but Drei felt like his Guardian was beginning give him one. The fact that there could be more Golden Age technology that was untouched by Fallen scavengers should be one of the greatest discoveries of the century. Any Guardian would be jumping in excitement if they faced this rare opportunity. It was a chance to unearthed more of the Golden Age and probably bolstered their forces.

Yet Summer Rose wasn't the least bit concerned over that or wasn't aware of the importance of this finding. Instead, she found the idea of bragging about this to the Vanguard Hunter to be more important.

Not for the first time, Drei wondered if she was like this in her previous life or was the result of being resurrected incompletely.

"Unfortunately, our radios have been damaged so we have much more limited range," the Ghost reminded her, "Even if they were intact, they were not built to send transmissions over solar systems."

"But I bet we could find one," she pointed out, smirking from under her helmet and crossing her arms in a smug manner, "Golden Age tech is extremely advance so there's a chance that they made a way to send transmissions to the Sol System. Find one, call for help and wait for the cavalry to arrive."

Drei blinked. He had a habit of forgetting her intelligence due to her childish disposition but Summer Rose was truly quite brilliant when the situation called for it. Her ingenuity was one of the reasons that allowed her to move up the Guardian ranks and accomplished more than any other Guardian in less than a decade after all.

Eight years may seem like a long time for ordinary civilians but for Guardians, who were essentially immortals, it would pass them by in a blink of an eye.

"That's…that's not a bad idea actually," the Ghost admitted hesitantly. He was far too used to Guardian Rose's insane and reckless plans. It always threw him through a loop whenever she comes up with sensible ones.

Drei also wondered if she just pretended to be an immature dolt to mess with everyone. It was certainly a possibility. That thought was immediately discarded when he remembered what the ball of lazy craziness also known as Summer Rose had done in the past.

Pretending or not, no one in their right mind would think it was a good idea to capture a live Knight and Minotaur (as alive as a Hive and a Vex could be at least) and pit them against each other while running a betting ring over who would win.

The Vanguards had a field day after they learned of what Guardian Summer did. Cayde-6 was the only one that was amused by all of this until he remembered that it was his responsibility to clean up her mess.

And to this day, no one but Summer Rose and her Ghost knew how she was able to trap the Knight and Minotaur in the same place. And both of them were strictly forbidden by the Vanguards to ever share this method with anyone else.

Drei ended his reminiscing when a screen alerted them that they arrived at their destination. Observing the planet, he could tell that it was roughly around the same size as Earth so the gravitational fields should be about the same as well. Another similarity it had to Earth was that it was also mostly comprised of water. The Ghost assumed it was very likely that the people of the Golden Age saw it as a suitable place to settle down just as he did.

Though he wasn't so sure about the oddity of the broken moon. The planet's gravitational pull should have returned the moon to its proper shape. It was like rolling a lump of clay into a sphere, except it would take approximately thousand of years to shape the moon back into a sphere so the damages must have been done a century or two ago. This was all just a hypothesis of course and not a proper conclusion.

After observing the planet, Drei made careful preparations in entering the atmosphere. With how much damage that their ship had sustained, entering the atmosphere was now a delicate process and a single mistake could mean the destruction of the Cloud Errant. Even though they could survive a crash landing, it would be best to preserve their only means of leaving the planet until they find another.

" _Strange,"_ the Ghost thought as he began their moderately slow descent into the atmosphere, _"Guardian Rose should have made a comment by now."_

He expected her to make a juvenile remark of the planet since one of its landmasses was shaped like a dragon but she remained uncharacteristically silent. It both comforted and worried him as paradoxical as that might sound. The Ghost would have called her out on her silence if he weren't so busy making sure they don't burn up upon entry.

Drei was right. There was something going on with Summer Rose. If he could see her face, the Ghost would have immediately cease what he was doing and find out what was troubling her but couldn't because of the helmet covering it.

Summer's habitual smile was replaced by a pained grimace as the view of the planet was on the screen before her. One hand was pressed against the side of her head but was blocked from massaging the temple as migraines plagued her. It was as if something was trying to force its way into her head but couldn't find a proper foothold. It did tell her one thing though as the ship shook from their descent.

Summer raised a shaking hand and tentatively placed it on the screen with the planet's image on it, _"I know this place."_

Summer's silver eyes suddenly glowed so brightly that it can be seen through her visor. But as sudden as this incident was, it dimmed just as quickly and left the Cloud Errant's only occupants unaware of this happening.

" _I've been here before."_

00000

 _Fur as black as night. Masks and claws as white as the moon. Splashes of red painted the snowy ground of the forest. But none of that mattered to her._

 _Her focus was on one thing and one thing alone._

 _She saw a figure in the distance. She began to approach the figure to get a closer look but only saw the figure's back, which was covered by a long white hooded cloak. They were facing a beacon of Light that was so bright that it hurt her eyes to look at it for too long._

 _The moment she got a good look of the figure's back, the figure started moving away from her and towards the Light in a sedate pace._

 _Panicked, she followed after the figure in hopes of catching up to them. Yet the distance between them remained the same. She moved her legs into a light jog and then into a full-on sprint to close the distance but to no avail._

 _Yet through all of that, the figure showed no sign of increasing their speed. They somehow still walked forward in a calm pace as if they were in no hurry._

 _She forced her legs to move even faster to catch them. Ignoring how her legs were burning in protest, she pushed on and on until through some unknown miracle, she finally got closer to the figure._

 _Before she could grab the figure by the shoulder, the figure turned their head to look behind them, at her. The top half of the mysterious figure's face was hidden by the hood so the mouth, which slowly turned to a warm smile, was all that she could see._

 _Tears began to well up in her eyes as the figure's mouth opened to say five words._

" _Just a little longer, Ruby."_

00000

"Mom!" Ruby Rose woke, sitting ramrod straight with her hand reaching out before her as if it was about to grab a hold of something, "Huh?"

The young reaper looked around her in confusion. Gone were snowy forest and the dissolving Grimm. Only the dorm room of team RWBY.

She shook her head to clear the haze of sleep. Luckily, no one else in her team woke up from her outburst because Yang's snoring drowned it out. For the first time, she was glad of her older sister's bad sleeping habits.

Ruby thought she stopped having that particular dream years ago but she guessed she was wrong.

The young huntress-in-training climbed down from her bed as quietly as she can. She wasn't a ninja like Blake but she could totally pull the whole sneaky act off when she wants to. Like right now for example.

She gave herself a fist pump after successfully making her way around the room without waking anyone up. Blake didn't stir even with her more sensitive ears.

As she rummaged through books for what she had in mind, she thought back to the dream that she had.

It all started after learning of her mother's death. Ruby was in denial of mother's death at first and thought (or more like hoped) she would return home someday. This belief led to the dreams. Almost every night, Ruby would see her mother walking away from her. Every time, she would chase after her to bring her back home. And fail every time because no matter how fast she ran, she could never catch up to her beloved mother.

Until now.

Due to her distraction, Ruby didn't notice the large white binder (definitely Weiss') at her feet and painfully stubbed her toe on it for her trouble.

Mindful to not wake the others up, the adolescent leader opened her mouth in an inaudible scream of pain while bouncing on one foot and cradling the other. Her Aura may have lessened the impact but it still hurt a great deal. Her Aura finally kicked in an alleviated the ache much quicker than for normal civilians.

Ruby looked down to glare at the offending object, tempted to kick it but thought better of it since she would just hurt her foot again. Her glare gave way to a thoughtful expression as she stared at the binder. It could be put to better use instead.

The diminutive Rose struggled to lift the binder to her bed but she only managed to raise it up to her chest. With one last groan of exertion, she tossed the binder to her bed where its landing was muffled by her pillows.

" _Wow,"_ she thought in disbelief at her luck. She wasn't even aiming for her pillows.

Ruby climbed back up her bed and placed the blanket over herself and the binder. Under the cover of the blanket, she turned on the flashlight function on her Scroll. With pen in hand, she began her preparations for the best day ever.

It was something to keep her mind off her dream about Summer Rose.

00000

Drei landed the Cloud Errant in the middle of a clearing of some forest where they set up camp. There would have been no need to set up camp but the ship was unsuitable for shelter with the damages that it had sustained.

Remembering was too much of a bother. That was what Summer Rose decided as she cleaned her weapons.

Ever since they landed on this planet, the Guardian felt a budding sense of familiarity but when the reason for that feeling was about to become clear, it slipped away like a wounded Wizard teleporting to safety. It left her greatly frustrated.

So great was her irritation, Summer wasn't fazed by Drei's shocking discovery of another civilization on this planet upon landing; a human civilization at that. That information only served to increase her ire of the ever-growing familiarity of this place.

She had to resort to her favorite past time of weapon maintenance to calm her down. While she was doing that, Drei decided to check what passed for a data network on this planet. Honestly, the Ghost would finish way earlier than her but kept quiet for now.

Drei was already very accustomed with his Guardian's moods and he could tell that now wasn't an appropriate time to disturb her. Summer Rose rarely ever lost her temper. There had been only a few times when she was truly angered and they were absolutely terrifying. Her Ghost did not wish to be on the receiving end of it.

Summer had made a small campfire with the aid of her Solar powers. She needed it more for the illumination it gave rather than the heat. Even then the light wasn't needed that much since she could disassemble and reassemble all of her weapons blindfolded. The light was to help Summer see if she did it properly.

Another reason she made the campfire was because it seemed to ward off their unwanted watchers.

Red eyes glowed from the shadows that the firelight could not dispel and stalked her from all sides, waiting for the perfect moment like her falling asleep to strike no doubt. Even without her radar alerting her of their arrival, she would have sensed them all the same. As a Hunter, her senses were much more acute than Warlocks and Titans when it comes to the wild.

The Hunter would have taken care of them by now but one fact stopped her from eliminating these lowly beasts.

These creatures were the same ones that killed her the first time.

They weren't the very same ones that killed her of course but most likely of the same species.

" _Grimm_ ," a part of her mind had supplied, increasing the feeling of wistfulness that she had of this planet. But no matter how hard she tried to find the reason, she could never find out WHY!

"I'm in no mood to be spied on," she called out to what hid in the darkness as she completed the final adjustments of her weapons, "So stop wasting my time and attack me already."

As if in response, the Grimm exited the shadows and revealed themselves to her.

The creatures resembled the traditional, bipedal forms of lycanthropes, more commonly known as werewolves. They stood on their hind legs, albeit with a slouch, and were extremely muscular. They had pitch-black fur and red eyes. On their face was a bone-like mask with red markings, and they had bone spikes protruding from their arms, back, and knees. Their fingers and toes were tipped with long, sharp, white claws.

" _Beowolves,"_ her mind once again provided much to her irritation as her helmet appeared over her head.

Three decided to dash forward and attack through jumping at her but Summer Rose disappeared in a swish of white rose petals, as they were about to hit. They crashed to the ground and looked around in confusion for their supposed prey.

But the Guardian was no prey. She was a Hunter.

Reappearing in another swish of white rose petals behind the three Beowolves, Summer had the hand cannon, Thorn drawn in one hand and aimed at the downed Grimm. Before they had a chance to recover, she let off three consecutive shots and was awarded to the sight of three heads exploding.

Six shots left in the chamber and fifteen more Beowolves still alive. This should be fun.

More Beowolves started to attack as the three headless Grimm fell. Summer leaped over the first one and shot it in the back of its head, then blasted another one in the chest while still in the air and rolled into a crouch as she landed. She discharged one more round to the side and blew off the top half of a Beowolf's head.

Three shots and twelve Beowolves.

The Hunter took a step back to dodge the swipe of a Beowolf and shot it in its mask for its trouble. Spinning on her heel, she kicked the midsection of a second creature with enough strength to knock it back while shooting a third one in the throat. The second Beowolf got back to its feet with a roar and found the barrel of Thorn shoved into its opened maw.

If it was capable of coherent thought, the Grimm would be thinking along the lines of "Oh shit".

Unknowingly proving the doomed Beowolf right, Summer fired the last round of her gun inside of the Grimm's mouth. The special bullet that Thorn fired tore down through the Beowolf's throat, ripping apart most of its innards before bursting out through its lower back.

Nine Beowolves.

She disappeared in another swish of white rose petals as more Beowolves charged at her. Rematerializing on top of her ship, she released Thorn's spent shells and reloaded in a flash. Now she had a bullet for each of them.

Before she could fulfill her promise, more growls resounded from the forest, which signaled the arrival of more Beowolves.

Taking a cursory glance at the increased numbers of enemies, Summer twirled Thorn before holstering it at her hip. She then pulled out two Hunter knives, one in each hand, with a twirl and held them both in a reverse grip.

It was time to get a bit serious.

She kicked off the top of her ship and launched herself high into the air. Gravity eventually took control and brought her body back to the ground and into the awaiting claws of the Grimm. Summer's blades spun around her in a circular motion as even the Guardian herself was now spinning like she was some kind of wheel that had been pushed off a cliff. Her knives cut through several Beowolves like they were made of butter before her feet even touched the ground.

Once firmly on the ground, Summer began channeling the power of Arc through her limbs and knives. The world around her seemed to slow to a crawl. She could see the glistening claws and smooth black fur with perfect clarity; a side effect upon activating the signature Arc Blade of the Bladedancer.

Then she moved.

The surrounding Beowolves were blown off their feet as they crumbled into pieces. With the length of her knives extended by Arc energy, she proceeded to cut up and down, left and right, leaving lightning, white rose petals and blackened severed body parts flying into the air. She disemboweled them quicker and quicker until only a handful remained. She jumped into the air as she released a medium ranged electric shockwave in a 360-degree radius, instantly vaporizing the last Beowolves. She then landed in a pose with her arms crossed in an "X" and knives held tightly in her hands as her white cape billowed behind her and constantly produced dozens of windblown white rose petals.

"A flawless performance," Drei complimented as he appeared by her side, "And that last attack was definitely a showstopper."

"Thank you," she smiled, her usual cheer returned after slaughtering monsters. She twirled both blades before putting them away.

Summer Rose had exemplary skills in the Gunslinger and Nightstalker class but the Bladedancer was where she truly shined. It was where she pushed the abilities it offered beyond what was expected of it.

Her Blink was unique. Every time she used it, she dispersed into white rose petals instead of the standard smoke. She could also use Blink in rapid succession and with more control than other Hunters and Warlocks. It was almost like second nature to her whenever she Blinked.

No one knew why she was such a natural at using Blink but Ikora Rey told her it was as if her soul seemed to have an affinity to Blink. A resemblance if you will.

"So what you got for me?" Summer asked, helmet dematerializing.

"Plenty," the Ghost said before providing more exposition of this planet, "For one, this planet is called-"

"Remnant," she interrupted, the name leaving her mouth before she knew it.

The Ghost blinked in confusion, "Yes. Yes, it is. How do you know that?"

"Because I think I died here."


	3. And Takes Me to the Place You Rest

AN:

There will be some spoilers of Volume 3 here so I suggest you finish watching Volume 3 first before reading the first part or just skip it entirely until you get to the next part.

Some of you asked me what events that Summer Rose went through in Destiny. Let's say that Summer replaced the player character and the latest event that she went through was the Taken King so no Lords of Iron.

Chapter 3

Her eyes opened and a burst of power flowed through her body but it was not her own. Some of her children had died. That was to be expected for they were always hunted down by the soul-wielders. The blood and souls of poor fools fed her through the feasts of her children and they did well until some Huntsman or Huntress spoils it. Though the taste of their soul when those same Huntsmen fall was just so exquisite.

But these losses were different. The Darkness that made up her children were tainted or to be more accurate, _purified_. When her children were slain, she simply reuse their essence to spawn more but it was now impossible with what was done to them.

To find the cause for this, she tapped into the memories of her fallen children, an ability that she rarely used these days.

Her blackened heart stopped for a second when she caught a glimpse of the one who had slained her children.

Pale complexion, reddish-black hair and _silver eyes_.

" _It couldn't be,"_ Salem snarled. It wasn't possible. She made sure _that woman_ was dead!

She had sent an entire army of her children to kill _that woman_ so why was she still _alive_!?

It wasn't just that. That _woman_ was wielding powers that were long forgotten and could be mistaken for the Maiden's but she knew better.

The Maiden's were but infants playing with forces that they do not truly understand. Even her human puppet was no different. That _woman_ on the other hand, knew what she had and could employ them to its best.

Even with just a glimpse of her abilities, there was no doubt in Salem's mind that Summer Rose was a bigger threat than any of the other Maidens including Cinder Fall even if she attains the full power of Autumn.

After all, Summer Rose was the only one that came closest to killing _her_ in centuries and from what she saw through her chilren, the matriarch Rose's strength had grown beyond their last encounter.

The Grimm Witch gripped her shoulder as she felt the phantom ache of an old wound. Regretably, she still had the scar that the White Rose gave her that day.

If she hadn't retreated and sent many of her children after her nemesis, then it would have been Salem that died that day instead of Summer Rose.

Salem suddenly realized that there never was a body to be found. She had mistakenly thought that the woman's corpse was lost to the wild but there was no memory of that ever happening.

She reviewed the memory of that day to make sure and was not pleased with what she saw. She clenched her fists so hard that black blood dripped from them and into the desolate ground below where it burned like acid. She then let out an ungodly roar that stirred every last one of her children from their slumber.

She _survived_! She was bloody and broken yet she somehow managed to kill all of her children that were sent after her.

Salem believed back then that the silver eyed woman had succumbed to her wounds and died that day but what if she hid away to mend her body just as Salem did.

Was she merely biding her time to hone her powers all these years? Did the White Rose hide herself away from even her own kind so she could dedicate her entire being into slaying Salem?

If so, it did not bode well for Salem or her plans. A warrior of Summer Rose's caliber would not come out of hiding unless she was absolutely sure that she was strong enough to face her once again.

Salem could not trust her human puppets to eliminate the threat on their own and it was still too soon for the eldest of her children to awaken. There was not enough hatred and anger in this world for them to feed off on. Not enough discord to rouse them from their slumber.

But before Summer Rose's return, she had spun a delicate web of intrigue within the humans. One that would finally bring about their downfall with or without her guidance. Despite their best efforts, humanity was just as good at killing each other as much as slaying her children.

The silver eyed warrior may strike her down but the rest of her kind will not live long enough to watch her prevail.

What good was a hero without anything left to save?

But it would still be prudent to warn her lowly puppets. No doubt, Summer Rose was plotting Salem's downfall while she strived for humanity's end.

00000

"You died here?" Drei echoed in disbelief before remembering something, "But I found you at the Comsodrome in Russia. You were long dead by that time."

"I know," she said softly, looking so lost and confused, "But I can't help but find everything here so familiar to me somehow. I don't know why."

"…Maybe you were one of the settlers of this planet and escaped through the Gateway when the Darkness attacked," the Ghost suggested gently.

"Maybe," she conceded but a small part of her thought that the Ghost was wrong. She ignored that small part in favor of finding a way off this planet, "So you were saying?"

"Oh right," he remembered, "Here's the general overview of what I learned."

Remnant was divided into four kingdoms, unlike how it was during the Golden Age where everyone was united under one banner. The northern kingdom, Atlas formerly Mantle, the eastern kingdom, Mistral, the western kingdom Vacuo, and the central kingdom, Vale where they currently were.

Then there was Dust.

Dust was known as a naturally occuring energy propellant that the people of Remnant relied on. It had similar properties to Glimmer but was not as effective as a Glimmer due to Glimmer being more potent and not limited to functioning within the atmosphere of a planet. Dust on the other hand cannot function outside Remnant's atmosphere, precluding the possibility of space travel.

It also removed the possibility of using Dust to repair their jumpship. They would have to reconfigure any Dust tech that they find to run on Glimmer instead so they would be compatible with the Cloud Errant. But first, they would have to find the needed parts.

"Any ideas where we can get parts to fix our ship," Summer asked, sealing the last hull breach on the Cloud Errant. The holes on the exterior were superficial compared to the rest of the damages so it was a lot easier to fix.

"I'm afraid that the parts we require can't be found locally and even if they are, we lack the funds to purchase them since I highly doubt they would accept Glimmer," Drei shook his head-body thing, "The technology on Remnant isn't on the same level as ours so there's not much we could do."

" _Bummer,"_ she thought to herself, trying to come up with another solution. A metaphorical light bulb lit up inside her head while the Ghost saw the dangerous gleam in her eyes again. He just knew that whatever scheme she had was going to end badly for them. It _was_ what brought them here in the first place.

"You said locally, right?" she questioned, her silver eyes glinting mischievously, "Where's the nearest military base?"

And he was right.

From her experience, the military or whatever fighting force you have always got the best stuff. These equipment were usually not available to civilians so if they couldn't find what they need in local stores, then they go for whatever the military were holding out from the public.

There was also another reason why she wanted to find the nearest military base. She wanted to see what kind of weaponry Remnant had and if they could stand up to the Vex.

"You cannot just raid a military no matter how justified it may be," Drei admonished, even though he also had the same idea, "They need those to help defend themselves from the Grimm."

The Grimm were described as creatures of destruction and had terrorized the denizens of Remnant for centuries. The Beowolves that Summer fought earlier were just one of the many variants of Grimm. Drei had already compiled a list of Grimm that the people of Remnant had discovered.

The Grimm were also said to be creatures of Darkness, which Summer and Drei had already confirmed for themselves. Like the Taken, their entire beings were filled with the putrefying stench of Darkness. Unlike the the Taken, they did not take hold of a living host and were composed of pure Darkness. Without a proper host, the minds of the Grimm were no better than Thralls.

If Summer raided one of their military bases, then they would also hamper their ability to fight off the Grimm.

It seemed that no matter where they go, there are always forces of Darkness trying to snuff out humanity's lifeforce.

"It's not like I can just go up to the guys in charge and tell them that aliens are going to invade you so I need your help to repair my spaceship," she countered.

The Ghost had to admit that she had a point. Remnant had yet to achieve space travel outside the realm of fiction so the looming threat of a Vex invasion won't be taken seriously by the proper authorities especially when it was a human like them delivering the warning. It would be dismissed as a joke at least or Summer would be deemed insane and detained at most. By the time that they do convince enough people, it would most likely be too late.

If Summer was an Exo or an Awoken, then maybe they could convince them. If they don't try to dissect them first that is. They've seen enough Pre-Golden Age movies on aliens to know how humans would react to the extraterrestial.

"Fine," he sighed wearily as he began to hack into military firewalls, "But I have to warn you. Military channels are much more secured than the public ones so it should take me some ti-done."

"Wow, that's a lot faster than I thought it would be," she commented in amazement, recalling all the times that he took a while to hack into enemy security.

"I _know_. I'm just as surprised as you are," Drei agreed as he examined relevant military data, "I've honestly seen better security on doors than what they're using."

"You said it yourself. This place isn't as advance as back on Earth and you were created by a space god."

"True," he nodded, "It's not fair to compare our standards of cyberwarfare to such a backwater planet."

"Maybe that's why the Vex thinks this is a good place to conquer."

"I'm beginning to think it is. I've already set the waypoint to the nearest military base but it's going to take a week or two to get there on foot and approximately three days on a Sparrow."

He factored in possible Grimm encounters during trip and no breaks in between to arrive at the calculated travel time. No doubt, Summer would opt to skip sleep and food altogether to get to their destination quicker.

"I guess it's too much to ask if we could take the ship instead?"

"You thought right. I rather not risk it with the state that our ship's in. It's a miracle that it hasn't fallen apart after we entered Remnant's atmosphere. But if you insist on the quickest way, there's a nearby convoy that's delivering supplies to the closest base. You can hitch a ride on it if you hurry."

"Alright, let's go," Summer spoke before breaking into a run. Once she reached her top speed, the Guardian jumped forward as her Sparrow materialized below her. Sitting snugly in the seat, Summer sped forward at very high speeds towards their goal.

It was going to be a long road ahead of them.

00000

Catching up to the convoy wasn't as hard as Summer thought it would be. What Drei failed to mention though was what kind of vehicle that the convoy was.

It was an aircraft twice as big as the Cloud Errant but it was mainly for transporting provisions so it had no weapons of its own and was escorted by several gunships.

There were too many eyes on just a single ship so Summer couldn't board any of them without being spotted. She could take the ships by force but thought better of it. She was already going to steal from the protectors of this planet, there was no need to destroy a convoy along with it. She also couldn't engage her stealth cloak to sneak aboard, not in the air at least.

Besides, the convoy was full of rations and ammunition. Those things weren't what she needed to fix the Cloud Errant. Plus, military rations tasted like crap and her guns ran on Glimmer, which were so much better than Dust.

So the hapless Hunter could be found clinging onto the knives stabbed deep into the bottom hull of the convoy, upside down and in a terrible mood. She would have preferred hanging onto the top of the aircraft but she would still be seen by the gunships so she decided to hang onto the bottom of the ship. It was the least they'd expect.

And she was regreting every single moment of it.

"I hate you so much right now," Summer spoke into her internal comms since it wasn't affected by the buffeting winds and she wanted her Ghost to hear it loud and clear.

Her armor may be protecting her from the winds but it was still very uncomfortable to be stuck in this position for hours at a time even with her body that was many magnitudes greater than an average person. She couldn't even shift her body to make herself more comfy without destabilizing her hold on the ship.

The flying Grimm like the Nevermores and Gryphons certainly didn't help her situation. The bigger ones were the first to be shot down so they didn't have a chance to get closer to the ships but the smaller and easier to miss Grimm usually got close enough to ram themselves on the side of the ships, which in turn rocked it to the side. Summer had nearly lost her grip on more than one occasion because of those annoying little critters.

"It looks like you're in luck, Guardian," Drei announced through the internal comms, "We should be arrving to the base in a few short minutes."

"Finally!" she exclaimed in relief, seeing the base in the distance. The Hunter dislodged her knives and kicked off from the hull, hurling herself to the ground below. While in free fall, she positioned herself in a spread eagle pose.

Seeing a nearby tree, she lashed out with her blades and stabbed them into its bark. Her knives dragged deep trenches into tree as she bled off her momentum. Once she came to a complete stop, she jumped off the bark and landed right on a branch.

Balancing perfectly on the branch, the Guardian brought out Patience and Time from Drei's databanks and looked through the scope. A shimmer briefly appeared over her form before she vanished completely.

Summer smiled at the special ability of Patience and Time (PT for short). Its invisibility when looking through the scope made it a perfect weapon to scope out the enemy without being detected. It was also amusing to watch enemies panic as they search for an unseen sniper.

The base would appear impregnable from the outside with the high walls and turrets perched on them. The base was also situated in the middle of a clearing so they would instantly spot anything approaching the base, be it Grimm or otherwise. If that wasn't enough, there were a multitude of cameras of different varieties and functions. These surveillance devices would no doubt catch anything that the guards on the walls didn't.

"They're not messing around with security," she noted.

"Of course, I chose this base because this was where they kept their most experimental equipment," Drei replied, "It makes sense for Atlas to defend their investments."

"How experimental are we talking about?" she inquired, storing PT away.

"Either too expensive or too dangerous for mass production."

"Nice. What kind of experimental equipment?"

"They have several cannons that were too unstable to place on an aircraft and it seems the scientists of Atlas were working on a shield generator but both of these never went past the development phase. None of them are of any use to us intact but their components could be altered to our specifications and repair the Cloud Errant's weapons and shields."

"It's kinda scary how you were able to find all of this so easily," Summer arched an eyebrow at how much supposedly classified information that the Ghost knew.

"Like I said before, I've seen better security than what Atlas is using," Drei replied, "And for some absurd reason, all of their networks are connected to one another. Just bypassing one, allowed me access to everything else."

"Well, Atlas is either too stupid or too arrogant to think that anyone could hack into their network," she pointed out. To be honest, she wasn't sure which was worse.

But all this security won't be able to do a damn to stop the Hunter from infiltrating the base. Summer had mastered the Bladedancer and Nightstalker class and through the combination of some of their abilities (most notably the ones involving stealth), she could evade almost every kind of security with ease.

She still got caught from time to time but those were because of elite aliens and veteran Guardians noticing her presence. Despite them being sworn enemies, they don't reach where they were now without picking up a very useful few tricks like being able to detect an invisible enemy in their midst for example.

Summer leapt from tree to tree, headed in the direction of where the compound was. The only evidence of her presence among the trees were the leaves that fell from her passing. Not even the Grimm below became aware of her as she soared over them. If they did, she was long gone by then.

The Hunter entered the clearing in no time and she then engaged her stealth cloak as she made her way to the wall of the compound. From what she expected, none of the cameras made any indication of them seeing her.

Once the Guardian reached the wall, she Blinked to the top and Blinked again to the bottom, not making a sound that would alert any guards. She then took note of the area.

The biggest building was five stories while there were some smaller buildings here and there. The smaller buildings didn't look too important like the main building so she ignored those for now.

"Okay, what are we looking for, Drei?" Summer spoke into her internal comms so only her and the Ghost would hear her.

"First is the hangar where the aircrafts are. You can find many components to fix the engine. After we reconfigure them to Glimmer, that is," the Ghost responded in kind through the internal comms, "Next would be the storage. It's where they're keeping most of the experimental equipment that didn't make the cut."

It sounded simple enough.

She crouched down to activate the stealth cloak and went to the hangar unseen. There were plenty of spare parts just lying around in the hangar so she swiped a good amount and converted them into data to be stored into her Ghost's databanks. The only hard part that she had to go through was that the last parts were still in the aircrafts so she had to go in the interior and dismantle the engine. It didn't help that there were still some people left inside the ships. There were a few close calls but she made it out with none the wiser.

"Alright, the storage is underground. One way in and one way out," Drei stated as she left the hangar. It wasn't as smooth as he would like but it would do for now.

"And where's that?" she asked

"The main building of course," Drei answered, setting a waypoint for her HUD.

The main building was going to be a bit harder with the amount of cameras it had inside. The cameras won't be able to see her while she's invisible but they would definitely notice doors opening on their own unless…

"You think you can hack into their surveillance?" she called out upon nearing the door to the main building.

"Already done. I'll erase any irregularities that the cameras see. The only eyes you have to worry about are from soldiers. The flesh and blood kind."

"Thanks, bruh," she said, stopping in front of the door. There was a keypad next to it where you were supposed to input a passcode to open the door but it opened regardless. She entered the building without another word.

"First off, don't call me that," the Ghost said, "Second, you're welcome, Guardian."

Summer invisibly creeped along the hallways, passing by soldiers, engineers and scientists. Occasionally, she would hear soldiers gossip about a white-haired specialist that was in the compound or something. She didn't really pay attention to that despite Drei warning her that it might be important.

It was not like she was going to encounter this so-called specialist, anyway?

Something caught Summer's eye so she turned to investigate it. It was an android.

The android was clad in white armor with its black robotic workings visible underneath. The armor was thin at the midsection, neck and joints but its chest and legs appeared well protected. It also wielded a handheld rifle that she saw its human counterpart wielding.

Without being told to, Drei uploaded the data that he gathered concerning this android into her HUD.

Atlesian Knight-200s were the latest in the line of androids that Atlesian Military had created and were meant to replace the older Atlesian Knight-130s. They were equipped with a standard assault rifle and straight built-in blades along their forearms, which they can use in melee combat. The AK-200s were designed to be smarter, sleeker and a little less scary than their predecessors.

They were also completely useless.

Even though they were quite effective against the Grimm, they won't last a minute against the Vex. A single Goblin unit had more firepower than dozens of AK-200s at once and could possibly take on that many at the same time before being overwhelmed. The AK-200s would need superior numbers to prevail over a single Goblin but Goblins were never alone.

Summer and Drei didn't bother wondering how the AK-200s would fare against a Hydra or even a Minotaur. They might as well be ants trying to take down an elephant if the elephant had rocket launchers and could teleport.

Remnant had already lost on one account and the Vex weren't even here yet.

Summer hoped that these Huntsmen and Huntresses that she heard so much about could put up a better fight than these sentient garbage. If so, then Remnant still had a chance. It was a small chance against the sheer numbers and firepower of the Vex but a chance nonetheless.

The Guardian quietly slipped into the elevator as its occupants left it. To get to the storage with all the experimental gear, one needed the proper clearance card and a retina scan from said owner of card but with Drei fully intergrated into the system, she once again bypassed them entirely.

With how easy it was to infiltrate the compound, Summer almost wished that the Atlesian Military had better firewalls. Not only would they have better security against Vex cyberwarfare, it would also provide her with a decent challenge.

Despite how easy it was, Summer should not have left her guard down. A complacent Hunter could find themselves being the hunted instead. That was the first lesson that was drilled to every Hunter before they were sent out to the field. It was also one that Summer had forgotten due to the ease of infiltrating a seemingly impenetrable fortress.

If she had not forgotten, then she would have been able to avoid bumping into the tall young woman with pale skin, white hair and medium-light blue eyes as she was about to exit the elevator while the white-haired woman was about to enter.

"Oops," Summer said to herself as her stealth cloak was disrupted, revealing herself to the woman who she will now refer to as whitey. She idly noticed the whitey's custom uniform and the sword at whitey's waist.

"Whaaat! This isn't the bathroom," she chuckled nervously in a poor attempt to look like she stumbled upon the most restricted area by accident, "I am _so_ lost right now!"

"Really? Is that the best you could come up with?" Drei deadpanned through the internal comms so the other woman couldn't hear him.

Summer didn't have time to retort as whitey swiftly unsheathed the saber and swung the blade at her neck. The blade went through nothing but air and white rose petals as the Guardian Blinked past the surprised specialist.

"Drei, locked down the elevators!" she ordered as she ran, "And block all transmission to and from the storage area. I don't want this place swarming with guards while dealing with whitey over here!"

"You do know that will make going out a whole lot more difficult," the Ghost needlessly pointed out as she ducked under whitey's sword. Before whitey could bring her sword arm back, Summer grabbed hold of her wrist tightly and threw her over her shoulder at a pile of metal containers.

"Meh, I'll just wing it," she shrugged.

Whitey recovered easily enough in the air as a large white glyph appeared behind her. The white glyph somehow served as a platform for whitey to kick off from. Whitey then propelled herself forward blade first with a battle cry.

Summer brought out a single Hunter Knife in her right hand and quickly caught whitey's blade with its side. The sword slid off the smaller weapon as the Guardian diverted it away and elbowed its wielder in the face, knocking whitey back.

Whitey was not staggered for long and glared at Summer murderously. It was as if whitey was going to inflict death upon her a thousand times over with her glare alone.

Summer was not impressed or intimidated in the least.

Why should she be? She had faced the greatest champions of the Darkness and came out on top after all. Some hotheaded so-called specialist wouldn't even hold a candle to what she had killed.

Summer Rose then recalled one important detail that she had forgotten till now.

"Did I remember to hide the Cloud Errant?" she privately asked her Ghost.

If Drei had hands, he would definitely be facepalming right about now. He too had forgotten to hide the ship from curious eyes so he didn't have the right either to berate his Guardian over her forgetfulness.

"We'll deal with that later," Drei told her as she got into a battle stance, "Right now, you should focus on that woman."

Summer had to agree with her smaller companion as she weaved and parried away every single strike from whitey's sword with her knife. Parrying another swing from whitey with her knife, Summer's free hand went under whitey's guard and drove a left hook into her ribs.

"Aaah!" whitey cried out in pain before another glyph appeared and hurled her back to create some distance between them.

Summer landed on her feet with relative ease in spite of being launched back at almost ludicrous speed. The Guardian straightened up and proceeded to fix her hood.

Despite how serious their predicament was, this was the perfect opportunity to evaluate Remnant's warriors. Summer was also itching for a satisfying fight and hoped that whitey here would provide her with one.

Summer Rose set her feet apart with her legs bent slightly. The hand holding the knife was raised in front of her while the other hand made a 'come get me' gesture.

Growling, whitey separate her bifurcated saber into two and propelled herself forward with a glyph.

The Guardian grinned from under her helmet, _"This should be fun."_

00000

AN:

Which season do you like better? Summer or Winter?


	4. White is Cold and Always Yearning

AN:

Does anyone know what the approximate size of the Vex compared to the height of an average man? I forgot and I need someone to tell me so I won't make any mistakes in describing the Vex units to the people of Remnant.

I got a lot of practice in writing fight scenes so I hope you won't be disappointed by the Summer vs. Winter battle.

Chapter 4

Whitey charged at Summer, making several quick but futile swipes at Summer's limbs and vitals as the Guardian leaned her body to side for every strike that she could dodge while her knife deflected what she couldn't.

"Those are some pretty nice blades you got there," Summer casually said as if her opponent wasn't currently trying to eviscerate her. Even with the weapons in question trying to kill her, the weapon nut couldn't help but admire them.

Whitey's weapon appeared as an upper-class dueling saber. The sword had a single edged, slightly curved blade. The sword's hilt sports a wide, crescent shaped guard that envolped the wielder's hand, purposefully protecting the hand and fingers from any angle. The hilt had a spiral design etched down it that stopped at an orb shaped pommel.

And that was before whitey separated it into two. TWO!

It had a function that allowed the hilt to slide open and reveal a second hilt within. The second hilt was a part of another sword, which was sheathed in the hollow fuller of the sword.

Even though whitey could now simultaneously attack and parry with her two blades, Summer was able to keep up with her just fine while only wielding a single Hunter knife, which had significantly shorter reach. Whitey may be good but not good enough to make her draw a second knife. Heck, she wasn't even good enough to make Summer draw out her own sword so Bolt-caster remained sheathed at her back.

Summer hooked her knife on whitey's smaller blade and with a flick of her wrist, she smoothly knocked the parrying dagger out of whitey's hand and high into the air above.

The Hunter had to give whitey some credit. At least she didn't make the mistake of taking her eyes off of her opponent. Instead, she tried to pressure Summer's guard even more to make up the loss of her second weapon.

Summer feinted to the right, hoping whitey would take the bait. When she did, the Guardian switched the knife from her right hand to her left. Whitey quickly changed the direction of her sword to block the knife. But Summer had already anticipated that.

The smaller blade that Summer had knocked out of whitey's hand finally finished its fall and landed right into her free hand. Whitey barely had time to look surprised before she was hit by her own weapon pushing her back a few feet.

Righting herself quickly, whitey looked back to see Summer twirling the smaller sword that she stole from her to get a feel of its weight. Before whitey could express her outrage of someone else using her weapon, Summer dashed forward with both blades in hand.

Whitey was now forced to the defensive as she desperately parried every strike from the Guardian. Her Aura was slowly being drained away from every blow that manage to slip through her guard, which did not bode well for whitey. At the end of her combo, Summer slammed both blades into whitey's guard with enough strength to knock her off her feet.

Summer may not have the same brute strength as a Titan but her physical prowess was still nothing to scoff at.

The moment whitey's back slammed into a wall, Summer threw her pilfered blade back to its original owner, forcing said owner to quickly move her head to the right to avoid being impaled by her own weapon. But she didn't escape it entirely as evidenced by her bun coming undone, white silken hair brushing past her shoulders.

"You really need to let your hair down," Summer remarked as she tilted her helmet covered head.

For most of the duration of the fight, Summer tried to initiate a conversation with her opponent like they were merely having a get together instead of a serious duel. It may be a serious battle for whitey but Summer didn't see it as so.

She estimated whitey's level to be around an above average Guardian. Whitey could manage a win from lesser Guardians but veteran Guardians that lived for centuries could handle her with little issue.

Even though she was part of the newest generation of Guardians, Summer was able to match and even surpass Guardians that had over a hundred years of experience in a short amount of time. Many would be impressed at her exponential growth on the battlefield if they weren't so annoyed by her immaturity, which seemed to worsen over the years.

In conclusion, Summer can confidently say that whitey couldn't beat her in a straight up fight. Whitey could possibly get the drop on her and even kill her if she wasn't careful but it would be temporary since she would resurrect shortly after.

The young Guardian quickly found herself getting bored so she thought to liven things up by starting a conversation with whitey.

But being the terrible conversationalist that she was, whitey merely growled, pulled out her smaller sword from the wall and dashed forward, swords in both hands. Whitey hacked, slashed and stabbed faster than before, actually scoring glancing blows on her armor but it did more damage to her shield than the armor itself.

"I like your boots," Summer tried again before sweeping whitey's legs out from under her, "The heels aren't really my style though."

Whitey called out that glyph of hers to catch her in the air. The specialist pushed herself off the glyph to evade another kick from Summer. Whitey then formed another glyph behind her in order to propel herself at the Guardian who still had one leg raised in the air.

Summer leaned backwards as whitey's sabers swept over her visor. Placing her still raised foot on the taller woman's midsection, she redirected whitey's momentum to make her spiral without control over the female Guardian.

Whitey simply made another glyph to catch her but little did she know, Summer had already known that she was going to do that again. Summer had Blinked far above whitey that her feet was touching the ceiling. Kicking off the ceiling, she launched herself at whitey and did a front flip, during which she threw her foot out to kick her opponent using the momentum of the flip and fall.

Fortunately, whitey looked up in time to see Summer's attack heading towards her but at the speeds that Summer was going, whitey won't have time to dodge it and she wasn't going to risk blocking it either. She was going to have to stop it before it landed.

Whitey altered the glyph that she was on and it began to create a flock of small white Nevermores, which started flying towards the Guardian.

Summer's silver eyes widened from behind her visor, _"Taken!?"_

That was her first thought when she saw whitey conjured a flock of white Grimm. Her second thought was _"Crap basket! That's gonna hit me!"_

Breaking off from her attack, Summer Blinked away to safety on a pile of metal containers. Coincidently, it was the same pile of containers that Summer threw whitey at.

Summer was alerted by the flapping of wings and turned to see that the flock of white Nevermores was following her.

"Guardian, the woman is controlling the Nevermores!" Drei informed her through the comms as she swung her knife at the flock, causing a few burst into small clouds of steam. She Blinked away again before they had a chance to surround her.

Reappearing above the flock of white Nevermores, Summer pulled out Fair and Square (FS for short) and let loose a stream of bullets into the horde of white Grimm, making so many Nevermore burst into clouds of steam that it obscured whitey's view of her.

Fair and Square was a pulse rifle that could switch to firing at full auto from short bursts after the upgrades that Summer gave it.

Whitey dismissed the glyph that she used to summon the white Nevermores and landed back on the floor. She brought her two blades up again but this time slightly out of her usual form.

That last attack used up a significant chunk of her Aura while keeping herself afloat. It was why she preferred to use her summons on solid ground than in the air like that but her opponent left her with no choice at the time.

Whitey narrowed her eyes at the cloud of steam that the infiltrator hid in. There was no way that she was going in there blind so she would have to either wait for Summer to exit the steam cloud or for the steam cloud to disperse. Either way, it gave whitey a moment of respite.

"You looking for something?" a voice called out from right behind her.

She whirled behind her, swords swinging as she did so but only saw white rose petals.

"Were you looking for me?" Summer asked, leaning against a crate with her arms crossed like she didn't have a care in the world.

Whitey angrily summoned a glyph behind her as Summer watched her. The glyph faded away and there was a bright flash of light, followed by whitey speeding forward with light trailing behind her. Just as the tip of whitey's blade closed in on Summer's throat, Summer simply Blinked past her, materializing a considerable distance away from her opponent.

"Ole!" Summer exclaimed, posing as if she was a matador from before the Golden Age.

Instead of impaling the throat of her impertinent adversary, the tip of the blade pierced the metal crate. It took whitey a split second to realize that the crate was full of Dust before her blade set off all of the volatile Dust.

A huge explosion went off behind Summer Rose that made her look her epic as her white cape flapped behind her.

"Craaaap, please tell me she isn't dead, Drei," she anxiously stared at the smoke behind her. She didn't mean for it go this far so she really hoped that whitey was okay.

Before the Ghost could check, she heard loud coughing from within the smoke. To her relief, whitey staggered out of the smoke, looking worse for wear. The swords fell from whitey's hands as she collapsed into an unconscious heap. She had several minor burns across her body and was covered head to toe in soot. Despite taking what was apparently a bomb to the face, whitey looked fine all things considered. The Huntresses of Remnant must be made of tougher stuff than she thought.

The same couldn't be said for her clothes though with it now reduced to burnt rags. In fact, the only thing that still left whitey's diminished dignity intact was the aforementioned soot coating her body. She was more black than white now.

" _Huh, the carpet_ does _match the drapes,"_ she noticed.

"Okay, she's still alive," Summer clapped her hands together and began walking away, "Now let's get what we came here for."

"Is it alright to leave her like that?" Drei questioned.

"You're right," she admitted before pulling out a permanent marker. She then proceeded to doodle on whitey's face, "And done."

Whitey now sported a fine handlebar mustache, a sharp goatee and a circle over her right eye to act as a monocle. All she needed was a top hat to complete the image of a stereotypical villain.

"That's not what I meant," the Ghost sighed but Summer ignored him as she went to find their objective.

There were some guards stationed in the basement but none of them were even close to whitey's level so Summer knocked them out with no trouble at all.

The androids weren't an issue either due to Drei having complete control over them. The Atlesian Paladin-290 was a pleasant surprise though.

The Atlesian Paladin-290 was a massive mechanized battlesuit that was armed with at least two energy guns on its side, rocket launchers mounted onto its back, and double-barreled guns on the sides of the aforementioned energy guns. It was also resilient and was shown to possess thick metal armor.

Unlike the Atlesian Knights, the Paladin could hold its own against Goblin units for a little while longer. Although, Goblins still had enough firepower to destroy a Paladin if there was more than a handful of them to hammer away on its armor.

As impressive as it looked, it was still no match against any of the heavy Vex units. The Paladin could take down a Minotaur if the pilot was skilled or lucky enough but won't last long against a Hydra, Cyclops or even a Praetorian.

Most importantly of all, the Paladin won't last long against her either.

Summer first came face to face with one of these Paladins when a soldier confronted her while wearing one in order to detain her but the Ghost simply shut it down before its pilot could make it take another step.

Watching Drei remotely shut down the mecha gave Summer an idea. If the Ghost could see the Guardian's eyes, then he could tell that it was one of her crazy yet ingenious schemes again.

"What's the human to android guards ratio here?"

"About five to one. This _is_ where Atlas produce the Atlesian Knights and Paladins so there's a greater number of androids than human personal but not all of them are operational," the Ghost informed her, "Why do you ask?"

Instead of getting a proper reply, Drei heard Summer start to shake in barely concealed mirth. After a while, she could not keep it contained any longer and let out a laugh so maniacal that it put villains to shame.

00000

Back in a dorm room that was provided to a team of transfer students from Haven, a young woman with black hair suddenly turned her head to look out the window, her amber eyes sharp.

"Cinder, what's wrong?" Emerald Sustral, her green haired and dark skinned cohort, asked.

"I sensed a disturbance."

00000

AN:

Here's a new chapter. I know it's shorter than the others but you better appreciate it since a guest reviewer threatened to send Zwei after me if I don't update faster. I rather fight Crota and Oryx at the same time than have that corgi out for my blood.


	5. Burdened by a Royal Test

AN:

Some people have left comments that I'm making the Destiny side of things more powerful than RWBY's. I'm sorry if it seemed that way but I was only comparing the technology between both lores. Summer has only seen the Atlesian androids, a bunch of no named soldiers and one Huntress so she only has those things to compare the Guardians and the Vex with. She doesn't have the full picture of Remnant with her broken memory and her limited observation of its inhabitants so she doesn't know how Remnant as a whole would fare against the Vex. It was also stated in the third chapter that one of the reasons she infiltrated the base was to assess the best military force of Remnant. However, I will tone down the comparison.

Another thing, I was just comparing Remnant's robot army with the Vex. Despite how proud General Ironwood is with them, the Atlesian Knights and Paladins are no match against a fully trained Huntsman and Summer rated Winter to be around the same level as an average Guardian. We know that the professors aren't the only professional Huntsmen in the world and that there has to be a decent number of them to hold off the Grimm so what Remnant lacks in technology, they make it up with the caliber of their warriors, which Summer said would give them a chance.

The Guardians may be very powerful but they have yet to completely defeat the Vex so even though the battle against the Vex won't be a one-sided massacre, it won't be easy for Remnant either.

Chapter 5

 **Interviewed:** Private Cole Johnson

 **Interviewer:** Captain Ford Blu

 **Foreword:** This interview took place two days after the incident in Atlesian Facility 14. Lt. Cole Johnson was one of the only eyewitnesses of the instigator of said incident. The following is a transcript of the after-action debriefing that took place following the investigation.

 **Begin Log**

Pvt Cole Johnson: Sir! _(stands up and salutes)_

Cpt Ford Blu: At ease, soldier. _(Pvt. Johnson sits down)_ Where were you the moment the incident occurred?

Pvt Johnson: Specialist Schnee was debriefing our unit on the new security protocols that were going to be implemented before she dismissed us. We were about to return to our assigned posts when it happened.

Cpt Blu: You didn't receive any transmissions from the comms?

Pvt Johnson: No sir. The radios were as silent as the grave. The only way we knew that something's wrong was when some of us saw Specialist Schnee engage an unknown assailant.

Cpt Blu: Please describe the assailant to me.

Pvt Johnson: Let's see… It was definitely a female from what I could tell from her curves. She wore light armor but not like the kind you usually see freelance Huntresses wear. It looked military grade but I think it has been customized to fit to her preferrence.

Cpt Blu: Go on.

Pvt Johnson: She had a helmet on. It looked like pilot's helmet. I guess she wore it to hide her face. And for some reason, she wore a white cloak over her armor with the hood up.

Cpt Blu: It's not uncommon for Huntsmen and Huntresses to be…liberal with their uniform. Did anyone else move to engage the hostile as well?

Pvt Johnson: No sir. We thought for sure that Specialist Schnee had it under control and with how fast they were, our CO said we would only get in the way.

Cpt Blu: Your commanding officer made the right choice. It's not wise for people with limited training to get in the middle of a battle between two Huntresses. What else did you do?

Pvt Johnson: We tried to alert the rest of the facility of an intruder in case the hostile wasn't alone but we couldn't get a signal out. It took us a moment to realize our communications were being jammed.

Cpt Blu: Yes, I have seen similar reports that state the same.

Pvt Johnson: Since we had no hope of sending an alert through the comms, our CO ordered some of us to go up the lifts so we could manually alert the base. But we were interrupted when we heard an explosion.

Cpt Blu: Which coincide with some of the missing supply of Dust.

Pvt Johnson: Yeah. We thought the explosion meant that Specialist Schnee took care of the intruder but as it turned out, we were wrong.

Cpt Blu:…

Pvt Johnson: The intruder didn't have a single scratch on her and she approached us so calmly like she knew there was nothing we could do to stop her, which I figured was the truth if she managed to defeat Specialist Schnee.

Cpt Blu: And what happened next?

Pvt Johnson: What do you think happened? The intruder charged towards us so fast that we barely saw it coming. We didn't even have time to point our guns at her before she rendered all of us unconscious. And when we all came to, well…you know what happened next better than I do.

 **End Log**

00000

"I can't believe you convinced me to go along with this madness!" Drei shouted.

The madness that the Ghost was referring to was the multitude of AK-200s turning on their human comrades. Summer Rose persuaded her Ghost to hack into the androids, which heavily outnumber the human personal to neutralize the guards so they could easily escape the base through the confusion and panic.

Nonlethally of course. She had the androids switch to stun rounds so they won't kill anyone even by accident.

It was bad enough that Summer stole experimental military equipment and beat the crap out of one of their Huntresses. The Guardian didn't want to make it worse by killing innocent people just for doing their jobs.

She had already made it outside of the main building and was greeted by the rattling of the heavy machine gun turrets. The turrets must be on overdrive from all the Grimm that were attracted by the panicking soldiers, scientists and engineers.

"How many of the personal have been neutralized?" she asked Drei, Blinking to the top of the wall to survey the Grimm situation.

The Grimm horde were massive. The horde was comprised of Ursi and Beowolves. There were very little Alpha classed Grimm in the group but the sheer numbers were enough to overwhelm the base even with the turrets keeping them at bay for now.

"Only about a third are still conscious," the Ghost answered.

There were still some people left to defend the facility but not enough to hinder her escape so there was no harm in giving the androids new orders.

"Direct half of the AK-200s to reinforce the defenses," she ordered as one lucky Ursa made it to the wall. Her hand drew Thorn so fast that it was seen as a blur and shot the now unlucky Ursa several times in the face, "Maybe send a Paladin or two while you're at it."

She had to admit that Ursi were tougher than Beowolves but a whole lot slower. Nothing that she couldn't kill though.

"Acknowledged."

Drei would usually have some difficulty in controling so many things at once but the effort of controlling the androids were lessened considerably because they already had a basic AI installed. All Drei had to do was change their directive and give them new ones. They did the rest on their own.

Maybe she was too hasty to dismiss their usefulness. They were certainly very helpful now.

Summer pulled out FS and started to help the turrets in thinning down the herd. It was going to take a few minutes for the androids to arrive so she should hold the Grimm off for now.

She would have preferred to kill them up close and personal but there was a high chance of friendly fire with the rate that the turrets were going. She had no intention of being cut to pieces even though she could resurrect from it.

Dying and the subsequent revival was not a pleasant experience so most rookie Guardians avoided that as much as possible. She was far from a rookie but she does not enjoy the experience either.

With such a target rich environment, she wasn't going to miss. All she had to do was point and shoot and Grimm would die. She also tossed in the occasional grenade at a particularly thick clump of Grimm.

But it looked like it wasn't going to be enough. It seemed that she needed to turn it up a notch.

Summer called upon the burning sensation that was her Solar powers and was about to pull out her Golden Gun but she was interrupted by the sound of something climbing up the wall.

This would have worried her if it was the Grimm climbing up the wall but it came from the other side.

A lot of AK-200s pulled themselves up the edge in the perfect synchronization that only automatons (and very dedicated synchronized swimmers) could achieve. In the same synchronization, the androids pulled out their rifles and began firing into the clusters of Grimm below.

Without bothering to turn around, Summer heard something big make its way up the wall and settle itself behind her. She then saw missiles, laser beams and a whole lot of other guns mowing down the Grimm like it was going out of style.

The Guardian grinned at the Paladin's onslaught. She was _definitely_ too hasty to dismiss the usefulness of the Paladins.

"Are you done loading up the Bullhead?" she inquired, storing away FS since the androids had the situation under control.

"Yes, all it needs is for you to board it," Drei told her as she Blinked to the bottom of the wall.

"Good, I'm pretty sure we overstayed our welcome by now," she said, making her way to the Bullhead.

"That's an understatement," the Ghost retorted as she entered the Bullhead.

Summer sat in the cockpit and saw that Drei uploaded instructions on how to pilot a Bullhead into her HUD. She skimmed through most of it and decided to take off without delay.

"Hey Drei, tell me why you wanted to bring the Dust with us?" the Guardian cocked her head to the crates of Dust that took up the whole passenger area.

"While not on the same level as Glimmer, Dust has some uses that only the most experienced Warlock could accomplish," Drei explained, "Another interesting fact that I learned is that Dust could also modify the effects of a person's Semblence."

Semblence was one of the things that she read up on during the trip to the base. It was the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. The nature of one's Semblance is noted as representing an aspect of their character.

It was also the tangible projection of a person's Light from what she could sense whenever whitey (Summer should really learn that person's name some time in the future) used her glyph thingies.

What they called Aura was simply another name for the Light. They just didn't know it yet.

According to some Warlock researchers, a person was already born with Light and Darkness in their soul. They simply lacked the means to draw out either aspect to wield. The Traveler was the one to unlock a Guardian's Light reserves for them to wield for combat.

The people of Remnant must have figured out how to unlock the Light in their bodies on their own to fight off the creatures of Grimm. It was impressive that normal humans managed to harness the Light without the Traveler's help.

"So you want to know if it'll affect my powers as well," Summer surmised, "But do we really need this much? The weight is slowing down the Bullhead by a lot."

"With your tendency to blow us up every time you experiment, I thought it would be prudent to have spare Dust lying around."

"Name one time that I blew us up," she challenged, offended by the Ghost's comment.

"That time you wielded a Knight's Cleaver and tried to channel the Arc Blade through it," Drei supplied.

Bladedancers were capable of channeling their Arc powers through different mediums. It was just that the Hunter Knife was the most suitable conductor for their mystical electrical abilities. It was why Summer could use the Arc Blade with two Hunter Knives.

"That was a bad idea in hindsight," she admitted. The dark magical properties of a Hive weapon were incompatible with the Arc Blade, which she had the misfortune of seeing it for herself

"When you tried to manifest the Golden Gun into a different kind of weapon," the Ghost continued.

Summer just had to try it after seeing another Hunter transform their Golden Gun into a sniper rifle. With some practice, a Gunslinger could shape their Golden Gun into a weapon other than a hand cannon but the Golden Gun would still have a limited number of shots so changing it to a pulse rifle or auto rifle won't be as effective as changing it to a shotgun or sniper rifle.

"Hey, I managed to pull it off after a while," the Guardian defended herself. She indeed succeeded in changing her Golden Gun into a different weapon but summoning it as a hand cannon was a lot easier for her so she mostly used the hand cannon form.

"When you tried to shoot down a Voidwalker's Nova Bomb with a Shadowshot," he finished.

"That…was more of a…disintegration than blowing us up," she responded lamely. A Shadowshot turned out to increase the power and range of a Nova Bomb so not only did she disintegrate both herself and the Voidwalker, she accidently discovered a new combination attack for other Guardians to use. Also, disintegration was actually a lot less painful than being trapped in the middle of a regular explosion.

(AN: I'm not sure if that would actually happen in the game itself if you use a Shadowshot on a Nova Bomb but you're welcome to try it yourself just to see what happens.)

"And I said to name one time! Not three!"

00000

Headmaster Ozpin sipped from his cup of coffee as he watched a fleet of airships filled the skies above Beacon Academy. Every ship had the crest of the Kingdom of Atlas on it. One of the bigger airships bore the personal heraldry of General James Ironwood, a very old comrade and friend.

It was already the first week of the second semester and Ozpin was feeling optimistic that no incident immediately requiring his attention would occur.

It was a relaxing afternoon. Team RWBY had actually settled down on their destructive antics and not once did Glynda find a reason to scold him. The only thing that would make his relaxation perfect was if the Atlesian air fleet would disappear.

They were eyesores.

A pinging noise alerted the Headmaster to his old friend, General James Ironwood was requesting an audience with him.

He sighed. It would seem that spending a moment of leisure was too much to hope for these days. Pressing a button to activate the intercom, he said, "Come in."

The doors to his office opened and General Ironwood stepped into the room. The man's hair was cut short in a military style and he wore a white uniform that was befitting of his rank. Judging from his emotionless expression and rigid posture, this was not a social visit in the least.

Ozpin couldn't help but feel tense himself despite his outward calm as he noticed the general's clenched fists. It also doesn't seem to be anything good.

"Ozpin, there is something you need to see," Ironwood said as he placed his scroll on Ozpin's desk to upload some video files, "A few days ago, one of my facilities was attacked."

It was no doubt the White Fang that attacked the Atlesian facility. That was what Ozpin thought. They were being bolder with their activities lately. There was one thing that bothered the Beacon Academy Headmaster though.

Out of all of the videos and pictures being displayed, none of them were of the incident itself. There were mostly of the aftermath of the attack. With all of the Atlesian military's security, he figured that Ironwood would present him with video evidence of the incident or images at the very least.

"There are no digital proof of the attack itself. The attacker somehow managed to hack into our network and erased their presence from the records," the general explained, "If it wasn't for eyewitnesses and the missing military property, we wouldn't have known it actually happened."

Ozpin steepled his hands before him, fingers interlocking as he deliberated over the implications of this.

It was one thing to hack into a school's (ones for civilians, not Huntsmen) database to change your scores but hacking into the security network of the best military on Remnant was another thing entirely.

"That's not the only thing," he added, "According to witnesses, there was only one."

"There are not many who are brazen enough to assault an Atlesian base singlehandedly," Ozpin spoke up.

"Yes but apparently the person who did it had the skills to back it up," James replied, "We suspect that she was a Huntress gone rogue after she easily dealt with one of my best agents and the rest of my men."

"She?" the grey haired man noted, not failing to notice the apparent gender of the suspect.

He reached for his mug as James played several videos of witnesses describing the rogue Huntress in question. His fingers froze an inch before the mug as Ozpin's heart froze.

"Impossible…" he murmured as the color faded from his face so fast that his skin was now paler than a ghost.

The reports each stated the same thing about the mysterious assailant. They talked about the _white_ _cloak_ that the woman wore and how she would generate _white rose petals_ whenever she used her semblance, which appeared to be short distance teleportation.

Seeing a person's semblance was just as incriminating as a fingerprint. No two semblances were exactly alike and a Huntsman could easily be identified by their semblance.

Teleportation was an extremely rare semblance to have, which narrows down the list of potential suspects but the final nail to the coffin was the fact that white rose petals would materialize after every use.

There was only one person in the world that could teleport and wore a white cloak. But the problem was…

Summer Rose had been dead for ten years.


	6. Black the Beast Descends from Shadows

AN:

Like An Anonymoose (that's really a reviewer's account name, I bullshit you not) said: shit is picking up now.

Chapter 6

The Vex had underestimated the Guardian. They had not known the identity of the intruder until only after they had went through the Gateway. If they had known that the Guardian was none other than Summer Rose, conqueror of the Vault of Glass and destroyer of the Black Heart, then they would prepared more precautions to prevent her arrival to the Forgotten World.

Time and time again, the White Rose had disrupted their plans and hindered the Vex from their rightful place in Existence. Not only that, the Guardian had killed their god, the Black Heart, restoring Light to the Traveler and crippling the Vex's ability to monitor the time stream in the process.

The Vex would deal have to deal with Guardian Rose post haste. Even with the odds heavily against her, she had the inexplicable ability to triumph over any obstacle. Whatever doesn't kill the White Rose permanently would only inspire her to not make the same mistake and improve herself.

A permanent solution for the Summer Rose conundrum was easier said than done. The Vex would have to accelerate the invasion.

For now, a small sect shall go through the Gateway first to locate the Guardian. If they do not find her, there was no harm in beginning the purge before the main Vex fleet arrive.

00000

"I know what you're going to say, Ozpin," James spoke up before the Beacon Headmaster could, "All our evidence points to her."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Ozpin said stiffly.

Summer Rose was one of the best students to have graduated from his school. She was the epitome of what a Huntress should be. Noble, determined and above all selfless. Her death was a tragedy for everyone that knew her. Her family especially was hit the hardest.

Saying that she was a traitor would be like spitting upon her memory. The Hero's death that she was awarded with would no longer have meaning. Anyone that personally knew her would be outraged at such an accusation. Ozpin was no different.

"We never did find a body," Ironwood responded.

"Or there was never a body _to find_ ," he retorted.

It was the sad truth. Most who lost their life so far into Grimm territory didn't leave a body behind to find because of the Grimm devouring what was left.

"Then who else could it be?" the general challenged testily, frustrated that his old friend refused to accept the facts.

"You and I both know Summer Rose well," Ozpin made to sip from his mug, "She would never betray the Kingdoms."

"We thought the same of Raven Branwen and look where that has brought us."

Ozpin's fingers tightened at the mention of another member of Team STRQ, the mug in his grip cracking a bit. Another Huntress that he couldn't help but feel responsible for. Another former student of his that was led astray.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Ozpin's calm disposition was put back into place. There was no use in losing one's temper even with the revelation of a supposedly deceased Huntress now back among the living.

"While the evidence points to the _late_ Summer Rose, none of the witnesses caught a glimpse of her face or her name."

"Then how do you explain her semblence!" James snapped, "Did it just so happened that the enemy has someone with the exact same semblence as her!"

"We were not sure if Amber was their first victim," Ozpin replied, taking Ironwood aback, "As harsh as it sounds, no one would think to look twice if a Hunstman or Huntress dies in the middle of the Grimmlands."

James Ironwood took a moment to contemplate this theory. He hated to admit it but what the man said was plausible. They both knew what had happened to the young woman. There was no certainty that the Maiden of Autumn was the first to have a part of their soul stolen.

If that was the case, then only god knows which of the Huntsmen and Huntresses that they lost over the years died at the claws of the Grimm or had their semblence stolen by their mysterious enemy.

"Then what do you suppose we should do?" the Atlesian general questioned.

"I think it's time to contact Qrow," Ozpin answered.

"Are you sure it's wise to send Qrow?" James replied, "He would be emotionally compromised when he finds out who we're sending him after."

"If this rogue Huntress really _is_ Summer Rose, then Qrow is one of the only Huntsmen that could match her in battle."

"If it _is_ Summer Rose, do you think he would want to fight her?"

"Qrow knows what's at stake. He will do what must be done."

"I hope you're right about Qrow, old friend," Ironwood told him before leaving the room.

"And I hope you're wrong about Summer Rose," Ozpin muttered under his breath so the general wouldn't hear him even if he was still in the room, "Not for my sake but for her daughters."

"But if it really is you," the Headmaster turned to look out the window, "What has become of you after all these years for you to betray the cause that you worked so hard for?"

00000

"I'm impressed, Guardian," Drei said as he watched Summer tinker with some of the Dust that they acquired, "This is the farthest you've ever gone without blowing yourself u-"

 _ **BOOM!**_

"I spoke too soon," the Ghost deadpanned, staring at the burnt crater where his Guardian used to be, "Preparing for resurrection now."

"I'm still alive, you jerk!" Summer yelled, her head sticking out from behind a tree, where she instinctively teleported to the moment the Dust went off, "You should know darn well from checking my vitals!"

"Apologies," he said but she doubted that he really meant it, "I'm just so used to seeing you die in the middle of experimentation that it has become a habit to resurrect you after every explosion."

"Screw you," she said, flipping him the bird. The Ghost merely rolled his eye in response.

It had been a few days since Summer had raided that Atlesian base. The trip back to where they landed the ship was shorter than the trip to the base since any Grimm that would have attacked the Bullhead were at the base instead.

She spent almost two days repairing the Cloud Errant. Like what she assessed earlier, it would take another week or two to make the jumpship flightworthy if she took breaks every now and then. But since they were pressed for time before the Vex arrive, she decided to forget being lazy to cut the repair time down to half.

There was still a limit to how much a person can go through even without the neccesity of sleep and food to hinder them. Summer was getting bored from repairing the ship with Drei's constant bickering in her ears so she decided to take a short break by experimenting with their Dust supply. She might as well do something productive if she was going to procrastinate on the repairs.

In spite of what Drei said about her habit when experimenting, Summer was very careful while handling Dust. She read somewhere that Dust was so volatile that something small like a sneeze could accidently set it off. She didn't have the proper equipment to safely tinker with it since she was in the middle of a forest but she managed to not blow herself up for a few hours until the Ghost spoke up and messed up her concentration.

She did learn a great deal from her experiments before Drei interrupted her. As it turned out, Dust worked _too_ well with her powers especially with her Blink.

If she Blinked while holding a sample of Dust, her Blink would leave behind a small burst of the Dust's elemental type instead of her signature white rose petals.

Her Solar, Arc and Void powers on the other hand were affected a bit differently from her Blink. The corresponding Dust such as Fire, Lightning and Gravity Dust enhanced her abilities proportional to the amount she used. It was as if her Light abilities were feeding off of the Dust.

But the increased strength made controlling her abilities harder for her. Just now, she nearly blew herself up by attempting to combine fire Dust with her Golden Gun. She couldn't even form the handle before it nearly incinerated her.

It was a good thing that Summer mastered her Blink so that she's fast enough to dodge explosions.

" _But still not fast enough apparently,"_ she winced as she stared at the hand where she was supposed to wield the Golden Gun with.

Her arm up to the elbow was more like a lump of charcoal than a limb with the melted fragments of her gauntlet on top.. Just trying to move the darn thing sent a wave of anguish throughout her entire being but she pushed the pain aside for now. Fortunately, the Light could still heal damages like this but it would take an hour or so.

A resurrection would be a lot quicker though since she would be restored to almost peak condition in a few seconds rather than hours.

Sighing, Summer drew her knife with her uninjured hand and placed the tip of the blade over her chest, where her heart should be.

"You ready?" she asked with gritted teeth, dematerializing Gravebreaker 1.3 so it wouldn't get in the way.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Drei replied resignedly, too used to his Guardian killing herself since she was too impatient to wait for debilitating injuries to heal.

"Good," she said before sliding the knife between her ribs and plunging it into her heart.

It was a relatively quick death and something that she had gotten used to long ago. Morbid but true.

Civilians had asked Guardians the same question over and over again. It would be phrased differently depending on the person asking but it was always the same.

What was it like to die?

It was a simple question for beings who could resurrect upon death but it was one that no Guardian could provide a proper answer to.

The only true death that they ever had was their first death, the one before they were brought back to life by the Traveler. It doesn't help that a Guardian always lost almost all of their memories when they were revived. But the deaths after that, they could tell you about it just fine.

It was literally an out of body experience since their mind and soul would linger near over their corpse like what was happening to Summer now. The only thing that she could feel was her Ghost gathering her soul together so he could revive her.

The Ghost recalling her soul was like being sucked into a vaccum for her. When the Ghost placed her soul back into her body, it felt like she was being crammed into a very tight jar until the jar somehow slowly but surely expands to better accommodate her entire being. The process made her feel suffocated and claustrophobic but she had gotten used to it over the years.

In a flash of light, Summer Rose stood from where her corpse laid, unscathed yet a bit drained.

"There, good as new," she said, holding out her no longer burned to a crisp arm.

"I think that's enough playing around with Dust," Drei said, "It's time to go back to making the Cloud Errant flightworthy if not spaceworthy again."

"You're right," the Guardian agreed, pulling out a wrench from her data storage. It was going to be a long week but it had to be done.

00000

 _Weeks later_

"And done!" Summer proudly declared, gazing at the now fixed Cloud Errant. There were a few bumps in the road and Grimm encounters that slowed down the process but she managed to bring the jumpship to working condition.

The Cloud Errant wasn't in the same state as it was before. Its engine and shields weren't as effective anymore since she had to somewhat subpar components to replace the damage ones and she hadn't gotten the warp drive working again but at least the ship wasn't in danger of breaking apart anymore.

The ship's weapons were the only things that she repaired completely since her engineering skills were more for weaponry than vehicles.

It was good to go for flights within the atmosphere but without the warp drive active, they were still stranded on this planet.

Absentmindedly, Summer drew Thorn and shot a Beowolf that was trying to sneak up on her in the face. With her free hand, she pulled out her knife and stabbed an Ursa from under its jaw.

"I think we should get a new base of operations," she suggested to her Ghost while almost casually slaughtering Grimm. It was not uncommon to be attacked by Grimm while being outside of the Kingdoms but it was more irritating than dangerous for her.

Summer enjoyed the great outdoors as much as any Hunter but it was mentally exhausting to alternate between killing monsters and fixing the Cloud Errant. Even the most energetic of Hunters should find a safe place to recuperate.

"Any place available in Vale where we could hide our ship?" she asked as she killed the last Grimm.

"Yes but they require legal documents for us to occupy them," the Ghost told her.

"What about the ones that we could get on the not so legal channels?"

"Then we should look for a man named Hei Xiong or Junior as he's more well known for," he proposed, "He's an information broker so he should know some contacts to provide us with what we need."

"Hei Xiong. That means black bear, right?" she considered, "I wonder if his service fee is _bear_ -able? Eh, am I right?"

Drei stared blankly at his Guardian for what seemed like the longest time before he chose to speak up, "You're lucky that we're not in the Tower right now. If we were, the other Guardians would shoot you for that."

"Hey, puns are funny!"

"No," he objected, "No, they're not."

00000

The city of Vale was quite impressive. It didn't have the same magnificence as the Last City on Earth or the Reef but it was a nice place to live in nonetheless.

Being flightworthy again, the Cloud Errant was able to take her to Vale pretty quickly and the stealth drive hid the ship from any witnesses once they entered the city proper.

Third time must have been the charm since the stealth drive didn't malfunction at the most inconvenient moment this time. And it also turned that stealth worked better while the ship was stationary so she could safely hide the ship on a rooftop for now. It would still be better to get a more permanent place to put it in since it wasn't a good idea to leav it on for too long.

Summer wasn't sure if she should be glad or annoyed that the stealth drive was working perfectly now.

The Guardian walked the streets in her usual attire minus the helmet and with her hood up. Her armor and cloak attracted a few curious looks from civilians but they must have thought she was a Huntress since Huntsmen and Huntresses were also known for their eccentric outfits so they didn't spare a second glance on her.

"So how do you plan to acquire Mr. Xiong's services?" Drei asked discreetly while floating invisibly beside her head.

"You see, Drei. The key is to calmly and politely tell him to-"

00000

"Give me what I want or else you'll find out how many bones in the human body that I can break!" Summer screamed hysterically as she slammed a bearded man's head to the counter and pinned his arm behind his back.

"Okay, okay! I'll do whatever you say! Just please stop hurting me!?" Hei Xiong also known as Junior begged desperately.

Junior was really considering a change in career if he was going to be threatened by violent and unstable Huntresses all the time.


	7. Yellow Beauty Burns Gold

AN:

First off, Raven Branwen may be Yang's biological mother but it was Summer Rose who Yang considered to be more of mother than Raven so there would be some traits that Yang takes after from her even though Summer is not related to Yang by blood.

As for everyone's favorite scene last chapter, I can't take full credit for that joke. I got the idea from Team Four Star's Final Fantasy VII abridged series. If you have time, you should definitely watch it on Youtube or on their official site.

00000

Chapter 7

Calmly and politely. That was what Summer originally planned for when she first came to Junior for his services. She didn't know where it all went wrong to be honest.

Was it when Summer told the bear of a man that she didn't have lien, the currency of Remnant?

She would have acquired some of this world's currency by now but she wasn't in the city long enough to earn a substantial amount and she couldn't pickpocket to save a life.

Was it when the information broker laughed at her face for not having money?

The man certainly thought it was quite entertaining that Summer lacked the funds to even buy a drink and believed she told a funny joke. If only she could get the same reaction with her puns.

Now that Summer thought about it, it was definitely when the man tried to have her kicked out of his obnoxious bar.

The moment the first nameless goon laid a hand on her shoulder, she lashed out on instinct and thrusted a palm into the man's throat. The man started coughing violently from trachea trauma so Summer took him out of his misery by kicking his solar plexus, knocking him into several of his friends.

Summer was already on the move when the rest of the unimportant peons realized that a fight started. She kicked another man wearing the exact same suit as the first one in the stomach, which made him double over. Placing a hand on the bent over man's back, she used him as support to kick two more of his companions into unconsciousness.

She pushed herself off the man that she was using as support and launched herself into the air. As she came down, she aimed for another mook and landed on top of him.

The rest of Junior's henchmen had already armed themselves with an assortment of red swords and axes and charged at the Guardian with the hope of overwhelming her by numbers alone.

It won't do them any good because Guardians were used to being heavily outnumbered and handled themselves just fine.

One henchman swung his sword at her, which she easily sidestepped to avoid it. The man had overextended himself with that initial attack, which she capitalized on by elbowing him in the face, knocking him out. Another henchman charged at her with an axe held high but she simply slapped the axe aside with her gauntlet and placed her hand on his face. She swept his legs out from under him and pushed on his face before letting go, making him twirl head over heels into the floor.

Summer uppercut a henchman, knocking the man off his feet. She grabbed one of his legs before he could complete his fall and swung him as an impromptu bat at another henchman. She let go of her improvised weapon's leg, knocking both the man-shaped club and its target into the ground. She spun out of the way of a third henchman and executed a spinning kick on the back of his head for his trouble.

" _Wow, these guys are a real letdown,"_ Summer thought as she continued to knock out more of Junior's henchmen. The foot soldiers of Atlas put up a better fight than them. She didn't even have to pull out her knife to deal with them or put on her helmet for extra protection.

In a few short minutes, all of the well dressed minions were either unconscious or laying on the ground while wishing they were. One particular henchman was stubborn enough to try to push himself up.

"Huh?" he had time to say when he felt a foot be placed on his shoulder and then he was slammed back down into the ground.

"That was a nice warm up," Summer said, taking her foot off of the unfortunate man, "Who's next?"

"Miltia, flank her!" a girl in a white strapless dress cried out as she moved in to attack the Guardian from the right while another girl in a red dress slashed at her with red claws from the left.

Summer drew a Hunter knife with her left hand to parry Red Twin's claws while simultaneously blocking or dodging White Twin's kicks. The twins worked well together and could cover each other's openings with no problem.

Despite their exemplary teamwork, they lack the necessary skills and experience to even touch Summer let alone beat her. The Guardian was darn sure that even whitey could beat these two with no problem.

Deciding to end it quickly, Summer switched her knife to her other hand and trapped White Twin's bladed heel with it while kicking Red Twin in the chest. She twisted her knife, spinning White Twin's leg and forcing her other foot to slip.

With the knife still trapped with White Twin's bladed heel, Summer pulled in the airborne girl and punched her in the temple. Such was the strength of her punch that White Twin cracked the floor as she hit the ground.

Freeing her knife from the defeated twin, Summer tossed it into the air and caught it, now holding it by the tip of its blade. She then threw the knife at the now recovering Red Twin. She timed the revolutions of her knife well so when it finished spinning through the air, it was the handle of the knife that bashed against Red Twin's forehead and not the blade itself.

The Hunter knife bounced off the now catatonic girl's skull and Summer caught the knife as she Blinked to where it was going to fall. The Guardian had just sheathed the knife when she heard a yell.

"You're going to pay for this!" Junior yelled while hefting a bazooka over his shoulder.

As he aimed the rocket launcher at her, Summer reached for Bolt-caster, an act that she had yet to do since arriving to Remnant. Junior's finger tightened on the trigger but stopped himself when he saw his target disappear in a swirl of white rose petals. The man looked around in confusion until he heard the sound of a blade being sheathed behind him.

Junior swiftly turned around to find Summer with her back to him. He raised his bazooklub to fire at the Guardian but was shocked to see his weapon fall into pieces. In an act of desperation, he threw a punch at the White Rose but she merely snaked her arm around his and trapped it under her armpit. Junior was then assaulted by a series of jabs on his face, chest and stomach.

For Junior, it was like Blondie all over again.

The last attack sent him flying into the bar where he crashed into the collection of liquor. He barely had time to catch his breath before he was hauled to his feet and had his face slammed into the counter with his arm pinned behind his back.

"Give me what I want or else you'll find out how many bones in the human body that I can break!"

00000

"This Scroll has the addresses and other details of the places you need," a battered Junior informed her, handing over a comunication device that they called a Scroll. It was also his personal Scroll but he figured he could always buy a new one so he deleted all of his files besides the ones that Summer required.

"Now that wasn't so hard. It's not like I set the _bar_ too high," she chuckled at her own pun while sitting by the bar. She narrowed her eyes when she noticed that she was the only one laughing. Junior instantly feared for the welfare of his bones when he saw that look on her face.

"Hahaha, very clever, Miss. Hahaha," he guffawed nervously before turning to glare at his still conscious henchmen, "Isn't that right, boys!"

Not wanting another beating from the crazy Huntress, the henchmen played along and started laughing like a bunch of idiots, which they actually were.

"It's good to see some people appreciating my jokes," Summer smiled so angelically, which made Junior think that he would get out of this safely, "Now give me your wallets. All of you."

"Excuse me?" Junior asked in confusion.

"You did say that you would do whatever I want."

"B-but-" he tried to say but was interrupted.

"Unless you were lying to me," she said while idly playing with her knife, which Junior didn't even see her pull it out. Grabbing the man by his tie, Summer pulled him down to look him in the eye and ran the flat of the blade across his cheek as gently as possible, "And I don't appreciate liars."

Junior and his henchmen immediately fumbled for their wallets before the murderous Huntress could slice open a new hole in any of their faces.

00000

"Well that was a productive evening," Summer said as she left the club. In her hands were the money that Junior and his flunkies had _generously_ gave to her. After counting the money that she now had, which was unsurprisingly a lot, she stored it away for safekeeping inside of Drei's databanks, "I think I'm now in the mood for some noodles."

"Whatever happened to calmly and politely?" Drei wryly asked, recalling her original plan to win over the information broker with her charismatic self.

"I _was_ calm and polite at first," she replied defensively, "It's their fault for being so rude. Besides, I didn't do anything _too_ serious."

"You put a knife to Mr. Xiong's face!" he exclaimed indignantly, "I'm pretty certain that's too much!"

"It's not like it's the first time that I've done it."

"That doesn't make it better!"

The Guardian and Ghost continued their argument as they made their way down the street. If they had waited a few more minutes, the duo would have seen a yellow motorcycle pull into the street with its rider and passenger. But Summer had crossed the corner and Blinked to a nearby rooftop by the time that Yang Xiao Long and Neptune Vasilias arrived.

Neither parties knew it but they both had missed a bittersweet reunion between daughter and surrogate mother.

00000

An explosion knocked the doors to the club wide open, allowing a blonde girl to walk in through the smoke.

"Guess who's baaa-" Yang trailed off weakly as she noticed the already trashed club and many injured henchmen. Junior, the man that she was looking for, held an ice pack to his eye and had several cuts on his face as if someone was using it as a punching bag.

A someone that wasn't her.

"Whoa! What happened here?" Neptune questioned no one in particular.

"Blondie, you're here," he sighed as he removed the ice pack to reveal a black eye, "Why~?"

"Well, _you_ still owe me a drink," she answered. The blonde girl was planning to question the man and if necessary, punch the answers out of him but it looked like someone beat her to it.

"Good luck with that, Blondie," Junior gestured with his thumb at the shelf of spilt liquor, "But I'm not really in the mood for this."

"I can see that you won't _bar_ me from answering my questions," she noted with a chuckle. She expected a collection of groaning from her pun but she was flabbergasted to see the haunted expressions on Junior and his henchmen's faces. She was quite aware that people don't like her puns but she didn't think it would be to this extent. One of them was even openly crying for God's sake.

"What's with you guys?" she couldn't help but ask in concern.

"Sorry, it's just that there was a Huntress who was fond of puns too here earlier," Junior replied while trying and failing to repress a shudder, "She left a hell of an impression on us."

"Oh?" Yang's interest was piqued. Not many people had an appreciation for puns so she wanted to meet this Huntress to spread the art of puns, "What does she look like? I might know her."

"Yeah, I figured you might," the bearded man grumbled.

"But what about Torchwick?" Neptune interjected, rushing to Yang's side.

"Ssh, not now," Yang shushed him as she pushed him out of the way with one hand, "So about that Huntress?"

"Didn't get a name but I sure got a good look at her. Too much of a good look if you ask me," Junior placed the ice pack back on his eye before describing the Huntress in question, "She had black hair with a red tint to it. Kinda pale skin. Bit on the short side and silver eyes."

"Wait, that sounds a lot like Ruby?" Yang realized but it couldn't be her younger sister since Ruby was supposed to be with Weiss and she disliked Yang's puns with a passion.

"She also wore a white cloak and had a sword strapped to her back. And her semblence made white petals appear every time she used it," Junior added, "Sound familiar to you?"

Yes. Yes, it did sound familiar to her. _Too_ familiar to her in fact.

"Yang, are you alright?" the tanned blue haired boy waved a hand in front of the shocked Huntress-in-training's face, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Before anyone could react, Yang shot across the room and grabbed Junior by the collar.

"WHERE IS SHE!?" she furiously demanded, her eyes blazing red.

For years, Yang had searched for her biological mother. She wanted to know why a mother would abandon her child like that. She wanted to understand the kind of person that Raven Branwen was to up and vanish on her family. Yang wanted to know if her mother even loved her.

The closest thing that Yang had to a mother was Summer Rose but she had died years ago. Or so she thought.

If the Huntress that Junior met was who she suspected, then either Summer Rose wasn't as dead as everyone believed or there was someone impersonating her beloved mother figure.

Yang needed to find this person and confirm for herself if she was indeed Ruby's mother back from the dead or an imposter. But she hoped it was the latter.

There was no way Summer would abandon her family like what Yang's mother did. Summer would never abandon Taiyang, Yang and most importantly of all, Ruby and leave them alone for all these years. She loved them too much for that. She was also a supermom after all.

But if it really was Summer Rose, Yang didn't know what she would do. She didn't even know how she would explain this to Ruby either.


	8. Black Feathers and White Flowers

AN:

Many of you are no doubt thinking that it's going to be quite the reunion in this chapter. I hope you won't be disappointed then.

00000

Chapter 8

 _A few weeks ago_

Qrow, as usual, was found slumped over a bar. A large collection of empty bottles surrounded his unconscious form, some on the table or on the floor. He was face down on the table, eyes closed and shoulders rising and falling. There was also a puddle of spilled booze and drool around his face. It was a wonder that the veteran Huntsman didn't drown in his own sleep by now.

But his blissful slumber came to an untimely end as a god-awful sound began emanating from his pocket. With a groan, Qrow reached into his pocket and pulled out his Scroll.

"What," he answered the Scroll, voice slightly muffled since he had yet to take his face off the table.

"Qrow, there's a new lead that I want you to follow," the voice of his former professor and current boss, Ozpin spoke into his ear.

"What is it, Ozpin?" he asked as he pushed himself up from the table so he was now sitting a bit straighter.

"A few days ago, an Atlesian facility was attacked by a single rogue Huntress."

"Heh, old Jimmy must be pissed that one chick beat all of his fancy security shit," he chuckled, imagining the look on the general's face when he found out, "And now he wants me clean up after his mess. Is that right?"

"Not how I would describe it but yes."

"I am so gonna hold this over his head next time I see him. So tell me about this Huntress that has Ironwood's panties in a bunch."

"Wore a white cloak. And her semblance produced white rose petals after every use."

All of Qrow's good humor at Ironwood's failure vanished instantly.

"…Ozpin, you better not be shitting me," he intoned, voice dangerously low, "I've known you for a long time and you wouldn't make jokes like that."

"I wish I was, old friend," the Headmaster of Beacon replied gently, "But I do not believe it's her either."

"But Ironwood does?" Qrow queried, his tone telling Ozpin that it was more of a statement than a question but still needed confirmation.

"…Yes."

"That son of a bitch!" he roared, slamming his fist on the table and sending many empty bottles flying off of it. More than a few patrons gave him dirty looks but Qrow couldn't give a fuck about them.

"Qrow, I know you're upset but-"

"Upset doesn't even cut it!" the former member of team STRQ interrupted, "After everything Summer has done for the Kingdoms, Ironwood has the balls to accuse her of treason! He should know damn well that she would never do something like that!"

"That is why I need you to find this Huntress and confirm her identity."

Taking several deep breathes and swigs of booze from his flask, he calmed himself, "If it isn't Summer, which _it isn't_ , then how you do explain her semblance."

"As I have told Ironwood, Amber might not be the only victim or the first one of our enemy."

"So what you're telling me is that there was a chance Summer survived her mission only to be drained of her soul and life by the enemy?" he asked in a seemingly calm tone while crushing the metal flask in his grip, not caring for the wasted alcohol.

Ozpin remained silent but that was all the answer he needed.

"Where did you want me to start first?"

00000

There was quite a selection of potential hideouts to choose from but Summer immediately discarded the ones that were abandoned warehouses. It was too cliché for her taste.

No, what the Guardian had her eye on was an old office building in the squatters. It had a basement parking lot where she could hide the Cloud Errant safely while some of the upper floors still had working water and electricity. A place that was suitable to live in if you ignore how most floors were falling apart. Homeless people only took the risk of sleeping there if it was too cold or raining really hard outside.

The building was originally scheduled to be demolished but kept getting pushed back because the officials were more focused on the more scenic side of Vale and couldn't care less of the state of disrepair in the squatters.

It didn't help that some Huntsmen and Huntresses to be had a tendency to be destructive in places that they shouldn't be. Summer kept getting reports of someone named Nora Valkyrie playing around with a war hammer or something in a multitude of arcades.

Summer knew she could be irresponsible at times but even she had the sense to not use her weapon in a public setting like an arcade for anything other than protecting lives.

The Guardian planned to check her potential base first before moving the Cloud Errant to it but she was caught in slight snag.

She was being followed.

Ever since she exited the block where Junior's club was, Summer felt the sensation that she was being watched. It didn't have anything to do with the security cameras that were installed almost everywhere because she made it a habit to avoid those as much as possible. No, the eyes watching her were more…organic.

The Guardian had nearly dismissed it as her imagination at first but remembered that her Hunter instincts don't lie. Besides, she had already made a rookie mistake back at the Atlesian base. She wasn't going to make another one now.

Summer pulled her hood lower as she willed Order's Mask to cover her head. Her body then shimmered into invisibility in an attempt to throw off her pursuer. Whoever they were probably thought she would take off the moment she engaged her stealth cloak but she stayed in the same spot.

If the target that was being followed was to suddenly disappear or become aware of their follower, the stalker would either silently retreat and try to find their target another day or panic and break out of their hiding place.

If her tail was experienced, they would do the former. On the other hand, they would do the latter if they weren't.

Summer was hoping that they were the latter so she would have a chance to discover the identity of her pursuer. If not, then she lost them. Either way was a win for her.

It turned out to be the latter but it still wasn't what she expected.

A crow that was perched on top of a nearby streetlight suddenly squawked and its feathers became ruffled as if something was agitating it. It tilted its head in bewilderment and stared at the spot where she stood unseen. Squawking one more time, the crow leapt from its perch and glided down to the ground.

To her shock and amazement, the crow disappeared before it could touch the pavement with a middle aged man in its place.

The man had graying black, spiky hair, red eyes, and a slight stubble along his jawline. He wore a red, tattered cloak, a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He also wore a ring on his right index finger, two other rings on his right fourth finger, and a necklace with a crooked cross-shaped pendant.

The sense of familiarity that Summer had learned to repress the last few weeks hit her again at full force but she could not figure out why this man brought out this feeling in her. The Guardian had never seen him before in her life yet why does it feel like she should know him.

She shook herself out of these thoughts. Those were questions for another time. Right now, she needed to know why this man was following her.

The Guardian slowly and carefully drew her knife and held it in a reverse grip. She raised the blade up to where the man's throat would be as he unknowingly approached her so the knife would be at his neck when he reached her.

But when her knife was an inch away from his Adam's apple, the man must have sensed something as he suddenly pulled back and swung an extending single-edged greatsword at her position. She was forced to block the giant blade with her knife and was pushed back by the strength behind it.

It doesn't come close to the arguably strongest Titan that she knew but he still packed quite a punch.

Even as her boots skidded across the pavement, the man dashed towards her and aggressively swiped at her, forcing her to keep stepping back. Before her back could bump into the building behind her, she drew a second knife in her free hand and back flipped towards the wall. Her feet landed on the vertical surface and she kicked off the wall, launching herself towards her opponent.

Summer swiped at the man with her knives as she sailed through the air but he brought his sword up to block them. Her blades slid off his greatsword before she landed behind him. She didn't stop there.

The Guardian dashed around the man while slashing at him relentlessly, appearing like a cyclone of blades. She was impressed to see the man being capable of blocking a majority of her attacks while counterattacking with masterful precision but his sword didn't even graze the tail end of her cloak for she was moving too fast for him to tag.

The man raised his sword high into the air and brought it back down with a battle cry. Sensing danger, Summer broke off from her assault and jumped away from the man before he slammed his sword into the ground, creating a crater where he stood.

While still in the air, she threw her knives at him but he was able to deflect them away from him, one was knocked to the right while the other went to the left. Before her feet could touch the ground, She Blinked towards the first knife that he deflected and caught it in her hand. Spinning rapidly to increase her momentum, she brought her knife down on the man who quickly raised his blade to block it.

But it was a feint as she Blinked once again towards her other knife, catching it in her free hand. With both knives, she slashed at the opening of his guard, drawing two red parallel lines on his back. The wounds weren't deep enough to be fatal but they would serve to handicap the man for the rest of the fight and couldn't be healed by his Aura right away.

Aura was a very effective shield against all types of damage but it can be broken through if the owner of said Aura was taken off guard. So something like a sneak attack could cut through their Aura if it was strong enough like hers was.

But an attack like that also left her open.

The man swiftly swung his sword at her, forcing her bring her knives up in an attempt to block it. She was partially successful due to preventing the blade from hitting her body but she was still sent flying through the air because of the power behind it and her unbalanced footing. The streetlight provided a convenient tool to stop her flight even as her back painfully arched against it and she slammed back down onto the asphalt.

"Ow," she muttered under her breath as she continued to lie there on the ground, playing possum. Her armor and shields took the brunt of the damage but it left an ugly bruise on her back, which was slowly being healed by her Light.

This man was, by far, the best warrior that she ever fought on Remnant. He was unquestionably leagues above whitey in physical prowess, skills and experience. In fact, he already had her beat in brute strength alone but her speed far eclipsed his to make up for it.

She needed to take him seriously if she didn't want to be defeated.

The man cautiously advanced on her outwardly prone body. He was most likely checking to see if she really was knocked out. Good, it meant that he was not dumb enough to take anything at face value.

At the position that she was laying in, her cloak covered most of her body so her enemy couldn't see her hand reach for a smoke bomb. Pressing the button on the top, she primed the smoke bomb to go off the moment she lets go of it.

Once the man was close enough, she sprang to life and threw the smoke bomb at him. He tried to slash it out of the air but it exploded and spread smoke over the area, obscuring his vision. Trying not to breathe in the smoke, he placed the tip of his sword on the ground before sweeping it around him in a circle, clearing away the smoke with the wind produced by the swing of his sword.

But she was still nowhere to be seen even with the smoke gone.

Crow assumed a battle ready stance as he warily combed the street. His battle instincts flared and he brought his sword up to repel a knife that would have skewered his eye. The blade of his weapon folded forward, revealing gun barrels on the side of the blade. He fired a round of shotgun pellets where the knife originated from but the pellets found no target to hit except for a streetlight.

Summer abruptly rematerialized behind him and jabbed an elbow to his injured back with her other hand pushing against the attacking limb to increase the strength of her assault.

The knife was merely another feint. She had Blinked away right after hurling her weapon at the man so he would think that she was there while she was actually behind him. She wasted no time in attacking him once his attention was on somewhere else.

"Aaah!" the man cried out in pain as his blood smeared over her elbow.

Using the man's cry of pain as her chance, she pulled out a flux grenade and stuck it on his back. The man didn't comprehend what she did and just assumed it was another attack to his wounds.

The Guardian flipped backwards to evade Crow's retaliating strike. He was about to continue his assault but was alerted to the beeping noise that was the flux grenade about to go off.

An explosion went off directly on the man's back and propelled him forward. As his prone body reached her, Summer did a spinning kick right in his face. Combined with the force of the explosion, the kick must have hurt. A lot.

Her kick still wasn't enough to cancel out the man's forward momentum so he gracelessly spun through the air before falling flat on his face.

"What the heck is his face made of?" Summer mumbled, shaking the leg that she used to kick him. Even with the protection provided by the Jackknife 1.3, her leg still ached in pain from the impact of the man's face hitting it.

"Guardian, the enemy is still conscious," Drei warned her through the internal comms.

She turned to see the man pushing himself up as he used his sword as leverage. The man cracked his neck and spat a glob of blood and saliva to the pavement.

"You're starting to piss me off," the man furiously stated as the gears in his sword began to spin.

The blade of his weapon split into sections and folded backwards, taking on a curved scythe-like shape. The blade gained red sharpened edges on the inside while the outer edge took on a jagged, toothed appearance due to the folding. Finally, the hilt extended in two places, which then curved much like a traditional farming scythe.

The man's greatsword had now transformed into a wicked battle scythe.

"Wow~," Summer's silver eyes sparkled in awe from under her helmet, "That's so COOL~!"

"Focus, Guardian!" the Ghost shouted in her ear, breaking her out of her reverie.

It was just in time too as the man was about to cleave her in half with his awesome scythe. Summer leaned backwards, Matrix-style as the curved blade sailed over her, missing her by the barest millimeters.

She put away her knife and unsheathed the Bolt-caster from her back. The knife left her at a disadvantage so she exchanged it for her own sword. The extra reach and power would help her better against her opponent's scythe.

Summer reared her sword back as Crow charged at her once more with his scythe. She brought forward in a stab to meet the incoming scythe. A shockwave erupted as sword and scythe clashed.

The two pushed their respective weapons against the other in an attempt to overwhelm their opponent. The man would have overpowered her by now but the electricity dancing across their weapons made his hands feel numb. It took all he had to keep a hold of his own weapon as it was.

They both broke off from the deadlock, creating some distance between them. Summer carefully analyzed her adversary as the man shook his hands to get feeling back into them.

The man was an expert with the sword but his skills were more suited to that scythe of his, making him an even deadlier warrior than before. He wasn't pulling his punches now.

It was too bad that Summer was still holding herself back.

There were a few opportunities earlier that she could have used to end the fight before it got this point if she had unleashed any of her Super abilities. But they would have ended with the man's death, which was not what she wanted.

Remnant needed the most capable fighter that they could get when the Vex eventually arrive. She wasn't going kill one of them if she could help it. There was also a small part of her that just didn't want to kill the man.

But the man didn't hold the same sentiment as her.

He aimed the head of his scythe behind him before squeezing the trigger. He propelled himself towards at astonishing speed, using the recoil of his gun to accelerate himself.

Summer flipped over his charge as her blade sliced at him from above but he twirled his scythe around and parried it away. He wasn't done yet as he wove his scythe again with it now about to chop her apart. Bolt-caster was there to block it but she was still sent flying even after successfully blocking it.

Using the recoil of gun, the man chased her airborne body through the air but his scythe went through white rose petals instead as she Blinked to safety.

She reappeared slightly above him and smacked the pommel of her sword on his right cheek, sending him straight to the ground. She Blinked again and her feet was back on the stable earth. She raised her sword once more for battle.

"I don't want to interrupt you, Guardian," Drei suddenly spoke up, making her almost trip in surprise, "The authorities have been alerted to your little spat so there is a unit of soldiers heading to our position right now."

"Bring in the Cloud Errant," she ordered as she traded blows with her opponent.

"It's going to take about five minutes for the ship to arrive," the Ghost informed her as both Summer and the man parried each other's strikes with rapid speed.

"Five minutes, huh?" she noted, throwing a smoke bomb right in the man's face.

She didn't let him blow away the smoke this time as she pressured his guard, scoring some cuts as she did so. But she too was receiving injuries of her own.

One of the man's swipes got too close to comfort for her. Instead of being lopped into two, she acquired a deep laceration on her waist. Blood flowed profusely from the wound and down her leg.

Imbuing her free hand with Solar power, her hand burst into flames and she then pressed it against the gash, painfully cauterizing it to stop the bleeding.

The man was taken aback by the flames and briefly paused in his attacks. Using his hesitation, she snapped her fingers and set fire to the man's shoelaces. The man flailed his burning shoe in alarm and was barely able to parry her sword.

Summer channeled more Arc energy into Bolt-caster, making it spew more electricity. The electricity then traveled through the man's scythe and into the man himself, electrocuting him.

Instead of being incapacitated like what she expected, the man pushed her away from him, creating more space from each other. His hair had become spikier than before with some sparks traveling among them while the rest of his body was smoking.

She was impressed that the man was still standing despite taking that much punishment but she could definitely last for five more minutes if need be.

00000

Qrow didn't know the identity of his opponent but he was certain that she wasn't Summer Rose in spite of the semblance and white cloak.

Summer Rose would never stoop to such cowardly tricks against human or faunus enemies even with how effective they were. She had too much decency to use them on another living being. Which was why she always left those dirty tricks to Qrow and Raven.

She didn't have a problem on using deceitful tricks on the Grimm though. It wasn't like the soulless bastards could complain about it.

In fact, he and the rogue Huntress would be on even grounds if she didn't keep pulling cheap tricks on him to change the tides.

As for the cloak, it wasn't the same as Summer's signature cloak. It was pure white and somehow didn't get dirty while this imposter's cloak had an insignia on the back. The emblem had two stacks of three rectangles that formed three triangles and was inside of a circle.

Summer's personal emblem was a rose, which her daughter, Ruby, had inherited.

Qrow also didn't feel like he was fighting against Summer Rose. Even after all these years, he could never forget how his former leader fought. She moved with a deadly yet beautiful grace that left others in awe.

The rogue Huntress' fighting style was also similar to Summer's but it looked like Summer's fighting style was copied and then incorporated into hers, improving her own in the process.

Another indication that proved that this rogue Huntress wasn't Summer was when her hand burst into flames. That had to be the stolen Maiden powers since he detected no Dust being used.

She was too dangerous for Qrow to take lightly as evidenced by the slashes on his back and aching face. It seemed subduing her non-lethally was out of the question. Qrow would have to kill her.

" _Pity,"_ he thought sarcastically as he dashed toward the rogue Huntress one more time. Instead of clashing blades with his opponent, he was in a world of pain as he was stopped in his tracks by an unseen obstruction.

" _What the fuck was that?"_ was his last thoughts before his mind drifted off into unconsciousness.

00000

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Summer winced as the man crashed head first into the invisible Cloud Errant, "Did you really have to land it in front of him?"

"Well, I didn't expect him to run into it like a jackass!" Drei exclaimed defensively as the man slid off the jumpship and into a lifeless heap.

"He can't exactly see it with the stealth drive on," she gestured to the ship before it shimmered into the visible spectrum.

"Even I make mistakes from time to time," the Ghost said, as she was teleported to the inside of the ship. The stealth drive was then reactivated, making the ship invisible once again.

"Let's get out here before the cops come," she said as the Cloud Errant flew off into the sky.

Even with the man trying to kill her, Summer still couldn't help but feel like she had known him from somewhere. It was like meeting an old friend for the first time if that made sense.

Probably wasn't important if she had forgotten about it.

00000

AN:

This has got to be longest fight scene that I have ever written but goddamn, it was worth it.


	9. How Vexing

AN:

Should Summer get back together with Taiyang Xiao Long, Ruby's father or should they just stay friends? I can't decide.

Warning: I'll be introducing some recurring OCs. Don't like, don't read.

00000

Chapter 9

"Whu-," Qrow slurred as he felt a splitting migraine tearing apart the inside of his brain but since hangovers were an everyday thing for him, the Huntsman wasn't as deterred by it as most people would be, "Where am I?"

"Qrow, you're at the hospital," the familiar voice of Ozpin informed him, "The authorities found you unconscious when they went to investigate a disturbance."

A cursory glance showed the scythe master the sterile white walls and the screen that was monitoring his heartbeat. With a grumble, he pulled off the wires attached to him, making the monitor flatline.

"You had multiple slashes on your body, your hands had minor burns and the doctors think you might have a concussion as well," the Headmaster of Beacon listed down the injuries that Qrow had sustained from the rogue Huntress.

"Shit," the former member of Team STRQ cursed as he sat up, paying no heed to his wounds and possible concussion. He shrugged off way worse in the past, "How long was I out?"

"As far as we know, a few hours. The doctors weren't sure how long you were out before they arrived."

"What about the rogue Huntress?" Qrow jerked his head up when he remembered who left him in such a state.

"I'm afraid your quarry was long gone."

"Did she leave any traces at least?"

"Yes and no."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"I'll give you the full briefing after we checked you out of the hospital. I had to pull some strings so your family wouldn't be notified by your injuries. It's better that they don't know who inflicted them upon you. Not yet."

00000

The Tower was abuzz with activity. Jumpships were going back and forth in the shipyard and many Guardians moved with a sense of urgency in their step. Weapons were either being bought from the markets or going through maintenance so that their wielders would be prepared for battle.

Every Guardian had heard of the news by now. A few weeks ago, the Tower had received a transmission from Guardian Summer Rose concerning the Vex Gateway. They could only guess why the Vex would require such a gateway and how it would affect the Guardians.

It didn't help that Summer Rose had not returned to the Tower after sending that transmission. The other Guardians had feared the worst had befallen her but the Speaker assured them that her Light was still shining brightly and had yet to be extinguished. She was most likely fighting behind enemy line on her own.

The Guardians that fought beside her in the past almost felt sorry for the Vex. If pushed to the very edge, Summer would become an almost literal storm of fury. A storm that killed the Black Heart, slew Crota, shattered Atheon and _broke_ Oryx. Being head deep in Vex would just inspire her to be more resourceful and be an all around pain in the ass to the Vex.

Vanguard, especially Cayde-6, were doing their best to find out more about the Gateway and Summer Rose's fate but the Vex had established a massive blockade, preventing anymore scouts from infiltrating their territory without being shot down.

Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey had orchestrated several hit and run operations in an attempt to break through the barricade and rescue Guardian Rose. However, the Vex were stalwart in their defense so not a single Guardian had successfully managed to make it through.

They were getting desperate to learn what the Vex were up to and rescue one of their best Guardians so the Vanguard Hunter, Cayde-6 came up with a cunning yet definitely insane solution to their problem.

The Dreadnaught.

The Guardians could use the Hive Dreadnaught to blast a hole through the Vex barricade and then transfer their own fleets into Vex space with the Dreadnaught as their impromptu flagship.

Even after Oryx's defeat, the massive ship was still operational and just needed its weapons to be repaired with Eris Morn's knowledge of all things Hive. There were still some Taken on the ship but not as much as when the Taken King was still a threat so a well-armed Fireteam could exterminate all of the Darkness corrupted pests.

Unfortunately, the Exo couldn't pull it off without permission from the other Vanguards and they would never sanction such an operation. But being the crafty Hunter that he was, Cayde decided to do it anyway. Like he had said before, everyone loved a bad idea when it worked.

Cayde just needed a Guardian crazy enough to do it but with Summer missing in action, he settled for the next best thing. He was going to enlist the only Fireteam willing enough to have Summer Rose as an official member to take up this ludicrous task.

Fireteam Nero.

The Fireteam was composed of the younger generation of Guardians with Summer being the youngest while the other members were at least half a century old. Including Summer, they had only three members; one Hunter, one Titan and one Warlock. For most of the young Hunter's career, they stood by her steadfastly no matter what crazy situation that she got them into.

"I know you're wondering why I called for you when you're supposed to be performing the ultimately futile hit-and-run operations," Cayde-6 said to the other members of Fireteam Nero, "But what I have to say would greatly benefit the Guardians as long as you don't rat me out."

"Question," a female Awoken raised her hand, "If you wanted to keep this a secret from the other Vanguards, then why did you tell us to meet you right outside the Vanguard's meeting room?"

Her name was Lux Sylphid, the Warlock of Fireteam Nero. The Awoken had silvery skin like many of her kind and light purple hair that was styled in a pixie cut. She had a face that many would deemed attractive and her eyes were a shade darker than her skin. She would have had many admirers if it wasn't for the ever present scowl on her face.

For a Warlock, Lux had quite the temper and would tend to go on rampages in battle to let off her increasing aggression. She was also too impatient, foul-mouthed and abrasive to everyone else outside of battle. As Cayde had remarked, if Lux wasn't totally pissed, she was extremely annoyed.

It was a wonder how an easily irked woman like her could be best friends with someone like Summer. Although, it was not uncommon to see the Awoken chasing the Hunter around the Tower while hurling Nova Bomb after Nova Bomb at her.

"They'll see you're planning to move behind their backs again if they step out of that room right now," she continued.

"Don't worry," Cayde assured her, waving dismissively, "I left while they're in the middle of deliberation. We got a couple of hours at least before they find out."

Sadly, he was telling the truth. During the war against the Taken, Cayde devised a plan to infiltrate the Dreadnaught and had it enacted by Summer without the other Vanguards noticing what he did until it had already been done.

"What is it that you don't want them to find out if you don't mind me asking, sir?" the Titan of Fireteam Nero asked politely. His tone was not what you would expect from someone with his large and heavily armoured frame.

The Titan was named Prometheus-23, an Exo like Cayde. He was colored a steel grey with red decals on his cheeks and forehead. Like pretty much every powerful Titan, he had a tall and bulky frame and was strong enough benchpress things that were ten times Cayde's weight and then some.

Prometheus more than made up for the manners and tact that his other teammates sorely lack. Being the only level-headed member of Fireteam Nero, he was responsible for reigning in Summer's unruliness and Lux's anger. He wasn't always successful but he did manage to stop Summer from drawing a giant smiley face on the Traveler.

"I'll keep this brief and blunt as possible," Cayde announced before taking a deep breath for emphasis, "I need you two to clear out the Dreadnaught, fix its weapons and then use it to blast a hole in the Vex barricade."

…

…

"Are you for fucking real?" Lux inquired, the first to break the silence.

"Lux, language!" Prometheus reprimanded before turning to stare at his fellow Exo in disbelief, "But do you really think using the Hive Dreadnaught is the best course of action, sir?"

"Yes, I am," the Vanguard Hunter answered, all playfulness replaced with deadly seriousness, "As long as we can bring Summer back alive, I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

The remaining members of Fireteam Nero exchange concern glances with each other. It was no secret that Cayde-6 was extremely fond of Summer Rose. Some would go as far as to say that the Exo considered Summer to be the daughter that he never had, physically or otherwise.

Lux and Prometheus also held the young Hunter in high regard despite the Warlock's constant denial of it so they were just as eager to get her back as Cayde-6 was.

"Fine, we'll get this shit done," Guardian Sylphid conceded, her scowl deepening.

"We'll finish our mission as soon as possible, sir," the Titan stood at attention, "We don't want to keep Summer waiting."

"Good," Cayde nodded, "I know without a doubt that Summer is giving it her all to be a major thorn in the Vex's side."

"Or she can be sitting on her ass without a care in the world," Lux suggested sardonically.

"That too," the horned Exo acknowledged, pointing a finger at the Awoken, "But either way, she's gonna need our help."

00000

"These are the best noodles I ever had!" Summer happily declared before slurping more of the delectable noodles. She was most fortunate to have discovered this street-side noodle bar called A Simple Wok while touring the city of Vale.

It had been weeks since her last meal and the Guardian was ready to make up for lost time. She already had her fourth bowl yet she wasn't even close to done. The money that Junior and his men had _given to her on their own free will_ (that's her story and she's sticking with it) sure came in handy in this case.

"Guardian, is it wise to be out in the open like this?" Drei asked from where he floated unseen as she got started on her fifth bowl, "The man from last night might not be the only one that's after you."

"Don't worry. I heard this place got good reviews," she assured him, taking out her new Scroll to make it look like she was talking to someone on it, "And it's also a great place to watch the birds."

 _I already searched the area and I'm keeping watch for the man from that night._ That was what Summer really meant. The Guardian would have made an excellent spy if she chose to be subtle all the time.

After the encounter with the man with the scythe, Summer immediately headed for the abandoned office building and stored the Cloud Errant there. She stayed in her new hideout for a few days while setting up additional security.

She set up cameras, that she salvaged from the space probes of the Cloud Errant, around the possible entrances of the building. These probes were adavnced enough to spot an invisible Hunter so she doubted that there was anything on Remnant that could sneak past them without alerting her. She also made sure that these cameras were carefully concealed. People would find it strange to find working cameras in a supposedly rundowned building after all.

As an extra precaution, she placed tripmine grenades that she rigged to remove the timer on key structural weakpoints of the building. If a small army were to lay siege on her, she could just detonate the bombs and bring the whole building down on top of them while she remained in the safety of the basement parking lot. The basement parking lot's exit also wouldn't be affected much by the destruction of the building and she could just blast her way out with the Cloud Errant's cannons.

The last one was a bit excessive but it was only paranoia if no one was out to get her. Even in a different solar system altogether, she still had enemies besides the Vex hunting for her.

Like the Atlesian military, that man, and the White Fang.

This White Fang that she heard so much about was a cause for concern. They were a terrorist group full of Faunus. They were causing much tension within the Kingdoms through theft, vandalism and murder. The fears of the people then attracted the creatures of Grimm, sowing more discord.

Summer hadn't encountered any members of the White Fang yet but she won't hesitate in putting a bullet between their eyes if they gave her a good reason to.

Speaking of potential enemies…

"On your six, Guardian," Drei spoke up as she ordered for another bowl.

The Hunter would have glanced on her radar but she wasn't wearing her helmet since it would've gotten in the way of her meal. So she had Drei patrol the area while invisible. She also couldn't look behind her because it might tip off her newest stalker. She'd have to improvise.

She was very good at improvising though.

Summer swiftly finished the bowl of noodles and raised it her face to drink the soup. The bottom of the bowl had a reflective surface, which she used to take a quick look of the surroundings behind her.

She spotted a group of three teenaged girls gossiping and giggling in the café across the street. She focused in on the one in the middle while ignoring the other two.

The girl had short black hair, magenta eyes and a pale complexion like Summer. She wore a kakhi jacket with a black interior, blue pants and white shoes. The girl looked like an average highschool student spending the weekend off with her friends.

" _Gotcha,"_ the Guardian thought as she finished drinking the soup. She wasn't close to done but she paid the shopkeep the exact cost of the noodles that she ate and stood up to leave.

The reason why Summer singled the girl out from everyone behind her was because according to Drei, she was the only one sitting in that table. The other two girls were just illusions. The Ghost had seen through enough illusions to be able to identify when one was being used on them.

The Hunter nonchalantly walked down the street and hoped that the illusionist would take the bait. She was rewarded with a suitable answer.

The girl was at a considerable distance behind her so it wouldn't look like she was following the Guardian but Summer knew what she was doing. After turning a corner, she Blinked up and latched onto the side of a building. Materializing her helmet, she waited a bit for her stalker to turn the corner and then immediately dropped down behind the girl as soon as she saw her.

Before the girl could react, Summer put a hand over her mouth and Blinked both of them to the closest rooftop.

Once they made it to the rooftop, the girl smacked her hand away as her appearance of a typical teenager literally shattered.

The girl's hair was half pink and half brown, with white streaks in the pink half. She had heterochromia, where one eye was brown and the other was pale pink. She wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and gray boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a black corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She wore a multitude of necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck. She also had an umbrella that Summer guessed to be a concealed weapon.

The girl whipped her leg out to hit the Guardian in the head but her limb was caught before it could. She then lost her balance when the Guardian pulled her trapped leg and threw her across the rooftop.

The illusionist twisted her body in midair so she would land on her feet but Summer didn't give her the chance to recover properly as she quickly caught up to her. The Guardian's hand wrapped around the girl's neck as she slammed her to the floor, making cracks spread in a web-like pattern on the concrete.

Straddling the illusionist, Summer pulled out Thorn and placed the tip of the hand cannon right on the girl's forehead.

Aura or no, a bullet at point blank range would smear the girl's brain over the floor. Then there were Thorn's special penetrating bullets, which would leave a dark curse on its victims if they do survive. If the first shot didn't kill her, the Hive curse would.

The girl may not know about Thorn's curse but no one wanted to get shot in the head. Not even Guardians.

"Tell me why you're following me," Summer demanded before she channeled her Light into her eyes, making them glow disconcertingly through her visor, "Or you're gonna have a bad time."

She didn't know why but for some reason, her eyes would begin to glow whenever she used her Super abilities. Cayde told her that it might be the result of her resurrection into a Guardian since she had a pretty large Light reserve, which was unusual for a recently reborn Guardian. With some practice, she could make her silver eyes glow creepily, which was great for intimidation.

The illusionist trembled at the _sight_ (heh) of her glowing eyes and broke out into cold sweat. The girl's eyes then flashed to white as if to reflect her fear. Her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

"Well," she said as she pushed Thorn harder against the girl's forehead, "I'm waiting."

"Guardian," the Ghost called out to her through the internal comms, "There's something you need to see."

"What?" she asked as she tilted her head a bit. The illusionist saw this as a chance to break free but the loud click of Thorn's hammer being pulled back dissuaded her of that notion.

"I just intercepted a distress signal. Here, listen."

00000

" _Mayday, Mayday, SOS, whatever! This is Coco Adel of Team CFVY and we need an evac outta here! There's too many of them! We don't know how much longer we could hold out so send some us damn backup already!"_

" _Acknowledged, we're sending in some air support to your location now. ETA: twenty minutes. Just hold out till then."_

" _We don't have twenty minutes! We're up to our asses with-I don't even know what the hell they are!"_

" _Miss Adel, please verify."_

" _They look like robots or something and- Yatsu, Look out!"_

00000

"When did you get this?" Summer questioned, pushing herself up and away from the girl. She idly noticed the illusionist wasted no time to disappear in a white flash. If the multi-colored girl was smart, she wouldn't cross paths with the Guardian again.

"Just a minute ago," Drei answered before her jumpship shimmered into visibility on the same rooftop that she was on, "The Cloud Errant is already here before you ask. We can get to their location faster than their bullheads."

"Good," she teleported to the inside of the ship, which then reengaged the stealth drive. The ship then quickly took off, easily breaking the sound barrier and nearby windows.

The Guardian hoped that Remnant had more time before the Vex arrive but it looked like she was wrong.

It was going to take a few minutes to get there. It had also been weeks since the last time she slept so Summer figured a short nap wouldn't hurt. The Guardian closed her eyes and almost instantly drifted off into slumber land.

00000

 _There was a cliff, overlooking a luscious green forest. Summer and many others stood at its edge in preparation._

 _Preparation for what? She didn't know._

 _She looked around her to see the features of the others but everyone appeared to be covered in shadows except for her. It was kind of weird but she decided to leave them alone for now since none of them were actually doing anything._

" _For years, you young men and women have trained to become the guardians of this world," a voice that she couldn't pinpoint called out, "And we shall put what you have learned to the test in the Emerald Forest."_

 _Guardians? She was already a Guardian so why does she need to take a lousy test in a fancy sounding forest? And what does that voice mean that she had trained to be a Guardian for years? She just suddenly woke up one day with no memories, alien pirates trying to kill her again and Drei calling her a Guardian._

" _I'm certain you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams," that disembodied voice said, "Each of you will be given teammates today."_

 _They were assigning Fireteams today? But she already had a Fireteam. Even though Lux tried to kill her on multiple occasions and Prometheus wouldn't let her give him upgrades, she wouldn't trade them for a world. Although, she wouldn't mind if her Exo Titan friend had a rocket fist because that would be awesome._

" _These teammates will be with you for the next four years so it would be better if you paired with someone who complements your fighting style and personality."_

 _There was that one time Summer accidently disintergrated herself and Lux when the latter threw a Nova Bomb her, which she tried to shoot down with a Shadowshot. That sort of counted as complementing each other, right?_

" _With that said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner."_

 _Summer hoped her partner won't try to kill her on a regular basis like Lux. Death may not be permanent for Guardians but it still sucked._

 _After you find your partner, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet enemies along the way. Do not hesitate to eliminate those who stand before your goal or you will die."_

"Again," _Summer added in her head._

" _You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"_

 _She tried to open her mouth to ask a question like why she was here and why everyone except for her was covered in shadows but her mouth refused to open._

" _Good, now take your positions."_

 _The next thing that she knew, she was suddenly launched high into the air and into the forest below._

 _In spite of how sudden it was, she wasn't concerned in the least. She drew her sword and stabbed it into a tree to halt her momentum. She pushed herself off the tree and landed on the forest floor in a crouch. She stood up from her crouch and came face to face with a gilrl that wasn't covered in shadows._

 _The girl wore a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. An object that looked to be made from feathers hung from the right side of her skirt. She also wore black, thigh-length boots with a red splatter pattern._

 _She had red eyes and her black hair flowed in a loose and messy manner with a few locks sticking out and a small cowlick on top of her head. She also had a small portion of her hair tied back._

" _I guess we're partners," Summer said, holding her hand out for a handshake, "I'm Summer Rose. What's your name?"_

 _The other girl regarded her hand for a moment before tentatively taking it, "My name is_"_

00000

"Guardian, we're here," the Ghost woke Summer up from her dream.

The Guardian was instantly on high alert and pulled up a screen to survey the situation.

She didn't know the name of the village but she figured it doesn't matter now with how most of it was reduced to rubble and on fire. She then spotted a large horde of Vex converging on the only somewhat intact buildings.

It must be where the survivors were holding out as proven when a brown haired girl and what appeared to be a gatling popped out from one of the windows to mow down some of the alien cyborgs. The girl could only let off a brief hail of bullets before she had to duck back into cover to avoid the plasma bolts heading her way.

"Drei, take the wheel and drop me down there," the Guardian ordered before pointing to the building where the gatling gun girl came from, "It's time to turn the tables on the Vex."

"Do you want some music to go with that?" the Ghost asked as he complied and shot off a salvo from the Cloud Errant's cannons into the Vex below to clear a landing zone for her.

"Something classical."

00000

AN:

For the next chapter, I want you to play good music that's appropriate for battling a horde of enemies.


	10. How Would You Like Your CFVY

AN:

Okay, I'm getting mixed answers for the Summer and Taiyang getting back together thing. Some want them to hook up again while others said it was a bad idea. It doesn't make coming to decision any easier but the ones against Summer/Taiyang pairing gave me good reasons why they shouldn't get back together while the ones for Summer/Taiyang didn't other than either saying how it feels right or threatening me.

But in conclusion, a majority of you wanted them to stay friends. If you don't like it, then you can stop reading this story.

You may give your suggestions on how the story should go but I'm the one with the final say. If you don't agree with what I've wrote, then that's too bad. Go write your own story.

I understand that the Xiao Long/Rose family should become a proper family again but let's be real. Their family situation was already messed up before Summer came back from the dead.

For now, I'll just write the story as it is without having to worry over a pairing. I'm not very good at writing romance anyway.

00000

Team CFVY was sent to a small settlement outside of Vale to exterminate the increasing Grimm population there. It was a simple extermination mission that they have done many times before but it was also their first mission without a Huntsman shadowing them, which made it special for them.

When the team of Huntsmen in training made it to the settlement, they weren't greeted by a quaint little village but a nightmare.

The buildings were either crumbling, burning or a combination of the two and the streets were littered with the dead bodies of the village's inhabitants. There was no short supply of corpses wherever they go.

Whatever attacked the village had no care for age, gender or species as they saw children, elderly and Faunus alike sprawled lifelessly across the village. The way they were lying face down and the gaping holes on their backs told the young team that the villagers were cut down as they tried to run and it wasn't the Grimm.

Coco Adel, the leader of Team CFVY, was not ashamed to admit that she threw up after seeing a dead mother cradling her just as dead baby, both of their eyes glassy and lifeless.

"Oh god," Coco gasped in horror after dispelling her lunch, "What kind of monsters would do such a thing?"

Her teammates had no answer to that question. The rest of Team CFVY were just as horrified as her.

The rabbit ears of the lone Faunus in the group twitched, detecting a disturbance that the others couldn't with their human ears.

"Guys, I hear something!" Velvet immediately alerted her teammates, pointing towards a building.

Team CFVY immediately went on guard as they waited for what was behind the building. They were greeted with a man running out from behind it and into the streets. The man's eyes were delirious and looked like he had been running for hours, which might be why he survived in the first place.

Good. He might be able to tell Team CFVY what happened here.

Coco was just about to call out to the first survivor that they found when a tall armoured humanoid with broad shoulders and a single glowing on its head suddenly materialized right in front of the poor man, blocking his way. The man screams were cut short as the humanoid grabbed him by the head and squeezed. With a sick plop, the man's head was reduced to a bloody pulp.

The Coco's stomach lurched, threatening to make her vomit once more at the sight of such a brutal execution. Team CFVY had seen and done such acts of brutality before but those were inflicted upon the Grimm, not people and the Grimm corpses dissolved after a short while.

The being seemed to finally notice their presence and turned to face them, giving the team of students a good look at its dark brown form.

It looked like a robot but it was bulkier and taller than the new models that Atlas had released. It had three glowing lights. One where its face should be and one on each shoulder. One of its arm sported the biggest cannon that she's ever seen while the other arm ended in a three pronged claw, which was still dripping with the blood and brain of its victim.

"You bastard!" Coco shrieked in rage as she unleashed her gatling gun on the man's killer but it suddenly vanished before her very eyes, "What! Where did it go!?"

As if to answer her question, the mysterious robot reappeared behind her with an arm raised to crush the unaware leader. Fortunately for the brown haired girl, Yatsuhashi saw it and moved to save his leader.

"Coco!" the greatsword wielder cried out, pushing her out of the way and raising his sword to block the strike.

Yatsuhashi was stong enough to stop a charging Boarbatusk in its tracks so he was confident that he could tank the blow better than his not as durable teammates.

But not good enough.

The tall student's entire body rattled painfully from that one blow. His guard was not tough enough to stop the attack completely and he was sent crashing into a building.

"Yatsuhashi!" Velvet cried out for her partner, reaching out her hand to him. The Faunus girl turned to glare at the bulky robot with a growl. She rushed forward with Fox just a step behind her. They intend to pay the automaton back for what it had done.

The bot lowered its cannon arm and fired several large energy bolts at the two teens. The teens easily sidestepped the projectiles but they didn't know that the energy bolts exploded upon contact so they were knocked off their feet by the blasts.

Collapsing her gatling gun into its more compact form, Coco quickly ran to where Velvet would land and caught her safely. Fox wasn't so lucky as he landed close to the hostile android.

The dark skinned boy didn't had enough time to recover when the android made it to his position and raised a foot over his form. Fox hastily rolled out of the way as its foot came down, shattering the pavement where he previously was. He rolled to his feet and slashed his arm blades at the back of the knees of the android, hitting where amour was usually at the weakest.

He expected to do some damage like cuts if he did not outright amputate its legs but his blades met with resistance like they were striking someone's Aura, which was impossible.

Machines don't have souls.

Fox Alistair raised his arms to block the retaliating swipe from the android. He knew how powerful the blow was from watching the toughest member of their team being sent flying so he kicked off the ground as hard as he could and followed the direction of the attack to lessen the impact.

The young man was still sent flying, lost a good chunk of his Aura and his arms felt like jelly but he was able to prevent every bone of his body from breaking. His impromptu flight was put to a halt as his back slammed against a wall.

For something so large, it was surprisingly fast.

Fox slid off the wall and fell on his rear as the android aimed its cannon at him. Seeing her friend about to be killed, Velvet activated the box at her waist. The box projected the wire-frame copy of Gambol Shroud, the weapon of Blake Belladonna, in its kusarigama form into her hand. The rabbit Faunus threw the copy at the android, wrapping the weapon around its cannon arm. With a sharp tug, she redirected the shot so it now devastated the building next to where Fox was.

The android turned its head to face her and then pulled back its tied arm. Instead of fighting the pull, Velvet went along with it and shot herself towards the robot, landing consecutive slashes on it as she did so but its strange forcefield protected it from such light attacks.

Velvet kicked off the android's face, launching herself high into the air. The copy of Gambol Shroud faded from her hands and was replaced with the copy of Yatsuhashi's greatsword.

The android lifted its cannon up to shoot her out of the sky but it was peppered by a stream of bullets from Coco's gatling gun, reminding it of her presence and depleting whatever forcefield it had. It also distracted the droid long enough for Velvet to bring her sword copy down with a battlecry.

The light projection sliced through its elbow, severing its cannon arm. The android snapped its leg up to kick the Faunus. She raised her sword copy up but the copy had already reached its limit so it shattered from the blow and its wielder was sent crashing into a crumbling house.

Seeing that it was still being bombarded by Coco's gatling gun, the android disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared next to the heavy weapon user, remaining arm raised to strike. Coco hurriedly collapsed her weapon and jumped out of the way as its claw slammed into the ground.

Rocks that were flung by the android's attack slammed into the young leader's sunglasses, cracking the lenses and obscuring her vision. Coco ripped the broken glasses off her face to see the robot's leg coming towards her in a kick. She ducked under the leg and smashed her handbag on its other leg, knocking it off balance.

The android fell flat on its face as she activated her mini-gun to finish it off but it disappeared again in a flash of light. Cursing, Coco looked around cautiously, her hands shaking in fear. The android suddenly emerged from behind her and attacked her with its claw before she had a chance to react.

Fortunately for the leader of Team CFVY, Yatsuhashi and Fox were able to get their second wind and tackled the robot from behind, toppling it to its knees. The robot pressed its remaining arm to the ground to prevent it from falling completely and it raised its head to find itself face-to-face with Coco's gatling gun.

"Die, you son of bitch!" the girl roared, squeezing the trigger. In less than a minute, the android's very durable armour was ripped to pieces under the barrage of high caliber rounds and its torso and head were shortly torn apart.

Panting, Coco ceased her barrage and stared at the wreckage that was once the android.

"What the hell was that thing?" the leader asked as she turned to see Yatsuhashi digging Velvet out of some rubble.

"Whatever it was," Fox began to say as he approached his leader and assumed a fighting stance, "It didn't come alone."

There at some distance from them was another android just like the one that they had fought and destroyed earlier. Team CFVY tensed as the new android aimed its cannon at them.

"Fuck," Coco swore, aiming her gatling gun at the second android.

The first one caught Team CFVY off guard and nearly killed some of them. They managed to pull off a victory but fighting another one right after was just pushing their luck.

Without warning, a burning aircraft came crashing down from the sky and into the building beside them. The students of Beacon raised their arms to shield themselves from the ensuing explosion.

"Was that the bullhead that brought us here?" Velvet asked after lowering her arm to assess the crash site. She hoped that she was wrong despite how unlikely that would be.

"Yup," Coco replied, popping the 'p' for emphasis, "Fuck me."

"As much as I would like to, now's not really the time," Fox retorted, still facing their enemy, "Maybe after we survive this."

"Not what I meant, Fo-wait what?"

Before Fox had the chance to take back what he said, they saw more flashes of light around them. These flashes of light revealed themselves to be more killer androids.

These androids were shorter, slimmer and had cone shaped heads in comparison to the first one but there were a large number of them, armed with a smaller version of the big one's cannon.

Followed shortly after the smaller androids were a swarm of what appeared to be floating rods. The rods then opened up to reveal two guns hidden inside and six tendrils attached to the main body. They reminded the students of drones except these drones were weaponized.

Yatsuhashi opened up his mouth to say one word that was appropriate to their situation, "Shit."

00000

Team CFVY discovered that the smallers ones were much easier to kill than their bulky variants but the sheer number of them was enough to push them back. The students could definitely dodge their energy blasts but they could only dodge for so long under such heavy fire. All it would take was one slip up and they were good as dead so they were forced to take cover within one of the only buildings still standing.

But their shelter wouldn't last for long as energy blasts and explosives shook its entire foundation. Coco desperately called for help on her Scroll but it would take some time for their backup to arrive.

Time that they don't have.

Already, time was beginning to take its toll on the young team. Their Aura levels were in the red from taking one too many hits and they were about ready to collapse in exhaustion. Yatsuhashi was shot in the right shoulder by one of those sniper androids, losing the ability to wield his sword properly. Fox had several singes where plasma bolts grazed him. The only ones that remained mostly uninjured were Coco and Velvet for however long that would last.

It didn't help that half of the team was at a severe disadvantage. Fox and Yatsuhashi were primarily melee fighters while Coco and Velvet were the only ones that could fight at long range if the latter had enough long range weapons stored in her box. The male members couldn't go out and fight since they would be shortly overwhelmed by the onslaught of plasma bolts. If the androids were using regular bullets, then they could just deflect them but plasma bolts couldn't be deflected so easily.

Yatsuhashi and Fox's wounds were a testament to that.

Velvet was running out of weapons to use fast while Coco still had plenty of bullets to spare. As effective as her weapon was, the copies that it made don't last long and can't be used twice. The rabbit Faunus would have to take pictures of the weapons again if she wanted to replace them. To make up for this, she would take a picture of her leader's weapon, wield it and repeat the whole process again when the copy ran out.

But it still wasn't enough.

And they just kept coming. No matter how many androids that they destroyed, two more would take its place.

Just when everything seemed bleak, a group of those thin androids approaching their shelter were blown to bits. Coco peeked out the window to see an aircraft firing at the androids from above. She had never seen that model before but that was the least of her worries at the moment.

"Guys, they're here!" the leader of Team CFVY called out to her teammates in relief before her ears caught a tune that was slowly getting louder, "We're sa- wait, is that music?"

(AN: your suggestions were great but I found the perfect one for this scene. Go play X Gon' Give It To Ya by DMX)

 _Arf arf_

 _Yeah, yeah, yeah (Grrrr)_

 _Uh, yeah don't get it twisted_

 _This rap shit, is mine_

 _Motherfucker, it's not, a fucking, game_

 _Fuck what you heard_

 _It's what you hearing_

 _It's what you hearing (Listen)_

 _It's what you hearing (Listen)_

 _It's what you hearing (Listen)_

The androids ceased their assault, most likely just as confused as they were. A figure then dropped out of the ship and landed in front of the robots in a crouch. Coco couldn't see the features of the figure except for that tacky white cloak on their back.

 _~X gon' give it to ya~_

 _~Fuck wait for you to get it on your own~_

As the next verse of the song came on, the figure opened up their cloak to reveal that it was a Huntress in light armour. The unknown Huntress drew the biggest handgun that they ever seen in one hand and fired a round that tore through the closest android and into the one behind it.

 _~X gon' deliver to ya~_

 _~Knock knock, open up the door, it's real~_

The Huntress hurled herself toward the androids, feet first. After drop kicking the closest one, she drew a knife in her second hand and sliced the head off of another one while shooting a second one in the chest. She then turned her gun on the headless robot and shot it in the chest as well.

 _~Wit the non-stop, pop pop and stainless steel~_

 _~Go hard getting busy wit it~_

 _~But I got such a good heart~_

 _~I'll make a motherfucker wonder if he did it~_

Weaving her way around the plasma bolts, the Huntress fired into the assembled androids around her, each shot spelling destruction for two or three androids. The clip of her gun ran empty but she simply used it to pistol whip an android while throwing her knife into the glowing white core of the one behind her.

 _~Damn right and I'll do it again~_

 _~'Cause I am right so gots to win~_

 _~Break bread wit the enemy~_

 _~But no matter how many cats I break bread wit~_

She reloaded her gun in a flash and continued to shoot the androids. Velvet spotted a grenade heading her way and was about to yell out a warning to the Huntress but she noticed without the Faunus' help. She jumped into the air and kicked the grenade into the androids below, blowing them to pieces. She landed on top of an android and drew another knife, stabbing it into the torso of the android beside her.

 _~I'll break who you sending me~_

 _~You motherfuckers never wanted nothing~_

 _~But your life, said bitch that's for the light day~_

 _~I'm getting down, down~_

The Huntress aimed her gun behind her and shot an android in its white core without even bothering to look while slicing another android in half with her knife. Once again, her hand cannon ran out of bullets but she simply used it as a club to slaughter more androids with her knife. The big android that gave Team CFVY so much trouble suddenly appeared and fired energy bolts at the Huntress, which she quickly dodged.

 _~Like a nigga said freeze~_

 _~But won't be the one ending up on his knees, Bitch Please~_

 _~If the only thing you cats did is come out to play~_

The Huntress reloaded and returned fire. Each shot was powerful enough to stagger the bulky android and black lines spread from wherever her shot hit. She then holstered her knife and gun in exchange for the sword on her back. She dashed toward the android with her sword raised high.

 _~Stay out my way, motherfucker~_

And promptly sliced the big android in half.

The jaws of Team CFVY fell to the floor at the impressive display of skill. They were part of the lucky few to see how professional Huntsmen fight in their first year but this Huntress made them look like amateurs compared to her skills.

The Huntress twirled her sword before sheathing it on her back. Without warning, she drew her black hand cannon and fired a round at their direction. The students immediately went on guard despite knowing they don't stand a chance against the Huntress that thoroughly trashed what gave them so much trouble.

"Don't let your guard down," the Huntress advised them, motioning her helmet covered head to look behind them.

They turned to do so and saw one of those slim androids laying on the ground with its core blown to pieces. From how it was still twitching a bit, the android must have snuck up behind them without them noticing.

"Thank you for saving our lives, ma'am," Velvet was the first to recover and turned to express her gratefulness as they left the building that they were taking shelter in.

"Don't thank me just yet," the Huntress replied, expelling the spent rounds before reloading her gun, "The Vex rarely ever come in such a small group like this."

"Small!?" Coco exclaimed indignantly, gesturing to the wrecked androids that they learnt were called the Vex, "There were at least dozens of them out here! And you call that a _small_ group!?"

"Yes," she answered before even more androids popped into existence before them. The Huntress pulled out a small object before throwing it to the ground, revealing it to be a smoke bomb as smoke concealed their forms.

Coco thought that something like a smoke bomb won't work on these androids but to their surprise, the androids were looking around as if confused. She looked down to see that her body was now transparent.

Her mouth opened up to let out a cry of panic but an armoured hand covered her mouth before a sound could escape. The brown haired girl turned to see the Huntress, just as see-through as her, raised a finger to her mouthpiece in a sign to tell her to be quiet. Out of the corner of her eye, Coco could see her teammates, who were also as transparent and astonished as her.

The masked Huntress pointed towards the building where they were just in. Team CFVY understood what she was trying to convey and made their way to the building. Once they made it inside, whatever semblance that the Huntress used to make them invisible to their enemy wore off.

"What now?" Coco couldn't help but asked as she snuck a peek out a window to observe these 'Vex'.

"You kids stay here while I take care of these guys," the Huntress told them as she was about to exit their shelter.

"What!" the leader of CFVY whispered loudly in protest, "You expect us to sit on our asses while you're fighting alone out there."

"You guys are injured and tired," she pointed out, "While I'm still fresh. You'll only get in the way."

Knowing that the masked Huntress was right, Coco clenched her teeth in frustration. She wanted to agree with the Huntress but mind kept flashing back to the dead bodies of the village's inhabitants. They were originally sent here to protect this village but they had failed spectacularly.

"We were supposed to protect the people here but we couldn't," Velvet spoke up, the usually reserved girl now full of fiery determination, "It's too late for our team to save them but it's not too late for us to avenge them."

The Huntress was silent for a few moments before coming to a decision, "Fine but tell me what all of you are capable of first. I need to know what my allies can do to make a battle strategy."

"Heh," Coco chuckled, feeling proud of the rabbit Faunus for convincing the Huntress, "Payback's a bitch."


	11. How Shocking

AN:

Many of you are no doubt thinking that I got the idea to use "X Gon' Give It To Ya" by DMX from the Deadpool movie but I actually got it from the show Rick and Morty. One of its episodes played that song for a scene and had a character also named _Summer_ involved (look it up if you don't believe me). It just had to be _Destiny_.

You see what I did there?

00000

Chapter 11

"So whadya got on the rogue Huntress?" Qrow inquired as he and Ozpin entered the Headmaster's office.

"Not as much as we would like but more than we originally had," he heard the voice of his least favorite person say, "I'm actually surprised that this Huntress got the better of you, Qrow."

"Then why don't you go after her yourself, Jimmy," the scythe master challenged the Atlesian general, "I'm sure some perp is no match against the might of Atlas."

"With all those Atlesian Knights and Paladins, you'll catch her in no time," he added mockingly, "Oh wait, she already beat them before they were even officially released. That must be embarrassing for you."

Ironwood's fists clenched as he made to retort but Glynda Goodwitch deemed it necessary for her to intervene.

"That's enough, you two!" she slammed her riding crop against Ozpin's desk, making the two Headmasters and male professor flinch at the resounding crack, "Let us return to the matter at hand."

Qrow and James gave each other one last glare before turning to look at Ozpin expectantly.

"We are still not entirely certain of this Huntress' identity but we may have found the one responsible for Amber's condition," Ozpin said, bringing up a video of Qrow's fight with the mysterious Huntress, "She appeared to be just as vicious if not more so than what you reported of the Autumn Maiden's attackers."

"Yeah, at least we know who stole her power now," Qrow remarked, wincing as he watched himself get blasted by an explosive before taking a kick to the face. His face was still hurting from that attack and seeing it happen to him didn't help.

"Wait, stop there," the veteran Huntsman held up a hand to pause the video. The video stopped to when he managed to clip the Huntress with his scythe. He also managed to draw blood from her, which they can use to identify her.

"Did anyone find blood on the scene?"

"Yes, they did," the general answered, "We already had it analyzed while you were unconscious."

"And?" he trailed off, gesturing for him to continue.

"And we don't know what to make of it."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Qrow asked crossly, "Even with all your fancy equipment, you can't do such a simple task like analyze a person's DNA to find out who they are."

"Does Summer Rose had any other relative that she may have mentioned to you?" Miss Goodwitch spoke up before Ironwood could lose his temper.

"No, Summer was an orphan that grew up outside of the Kingdoms before enrolling into Beacon so she doesn't have any besides me, Tai and her daughters," Qrow replied bemusedly. He would have also mentioned Raven Branwen, his twin sister and Summer's partner but that woman lost the right to be called that long ago, "Why do you ask?"

Glynda and Ozpin exchanged worried looks while Qrow remained confused.

Most settlements outside of the Kingdoms were not on the same technological level with the more modern Kingdoms even back then so people who lived in one of those settlements won't have a proper record unless they immigrated to one of the Kingdoms.

So they may have a perfect record of Summer Rose from her enrollment up to her death but the time before that didn't have enough details for their liking.

"Because the blood that we found was a _partial_ match to Summer Rose. Unless your niece, Ruby Rose gained the ability to be in two places at once and is hiding how powerful she really is, this Huntress may be a relative of Summer Rose that no one even knew existed," James explained.

Unlikely as it may be, the general suspected it might be the younger Rose at first but she had solid alibis. Ruby was in Beacon when the raid on the Atlesian facility occurred and she was fighting against one of his stolen Paladins with her team when Qrow confronted the rogue Huntress.

"There is also another issue," he continued, "This rogue Huntress might not even be _human_ or _Faunus_."

"Say what now?"

00000

"Let me get this straight. Bunny girl can copy people's fighting styles and weapons and beret girl has a freaking mini-gun while gigantor and scar face are straight up melee fighters," the masked Huntress simplified, pointing to each one as she listed off their specialty.

The masked Huntress and Team CFVY were huddled over what used to be the dining room table of the house that they were taking shelter in. The Huntress placed her Scroll on the table to show them a map of the village.

"We have names, you know," beret girl, or preferrably Coco Adel told her, eye twitching in annoyance.

"If you live through this, I'll put in the effort to learn them," she waved dismissively before returning to more important things, "Bunny girl, do you know how to use a sniper rifle?"

"Uh," Velvet recalled the young leader of Team RWBY and most specifically the weapon that the young girl used, which was a sniper-scythe hybrid before nodding her head, "Yes."

"Catch," the Guardian pulled out two rifles, one green while the other was orange from behind her before tossing the green one to the Faunus girl.

Velvet caught the gun and noted that it was a sniper rifle with a camo paint job. It also didn't have any other modification that would allow it to transform into another weapon. It was simply a gun.

"Aim for the white cores in the chest, not the heads," the Huntress informed her, "If you see a Hobgoblin, take them out first and then move on to the rest."

"What's a Hobgoblin?" Velvet asked as she checked the sights on the borrowed weapon.

"It's those snipers," she clarified, showing them what it looked like on her Scroll.

Velvet saw that the Hobgoblin was one of those sniper androids that shot Yatsuhashi in the shouler. It looked like the slim androids except it had horns and a tail.

"Yo scar face," the Huntress called out to Fox, tossing him the orange rifle, "You know how to use one of those?"

"More or less," the orange haired boy said hesitantly, eyeing the gun warily, "I never really learned how to use guns effectively in combat before."

"Then you better learn fast because you, bunny girl and beret girl are going to give me cover fire," she explained, "Your Aura levels are too low for you guys to be in the thick of it but you can still make yourself useful."

"What about me?" Yatsuhashi asked, feeling left out.

"Because of that shoulder of yours, you still won't be much use even if I give you a spare gun," she told him, "So you have to keep an eye on your teammates just in case anymore Goblins sneak up on you."

"What's a Goblin?" Team CFVY chorused, unfamiliar with these names.

Sighing deeply, Huntress pulled out a knife and threw it across the room. The Huntsmen-in-training followed the knife's flight and saw it embedded itself inside a cone-headed android's chest.

"That, kids, is a Goblin," the Huntress gestured to the dead android as if they didn't almost get ambushed, "They're the grunts of the Vex and have the tendency to teleport themselves right next to their target when they least expect it so you should always stay aware of your surroundings when fighting them or else you'll be dead before you know it."

"Now come on," she collapsed the Scroll and picked up, "We have to move. This place has already been compromised."

"Why? It was just one Goblin and it didn't look like it brought any friends," Coco arched an eyebrow.

"The Vex units are controlled through an interconnected network," the Huntress approached the dead Goblin and pulled out her knife from its chest, "If one of them finds us, then _all_ _of_ _them_ knows where we are."

As if to prove her point, the building shook as they could hear the Vex shooting their shelter. Several of those Goblins even flashed into being around them but Team CFVY was ready for them this time.

Coco slammed her handbag on the closest Vex's head, knocking it clean off. Fox spun around with his arm blades, slicing off the arms of a Goblin before decapitating it. Velvet slapped away a Goblin's gun from her head and burrowed her heel into the thing's white core, shattering it. Yatsuhashi awkwardly swung his greatsword with his off hand and crushed the last Goblin to pieces.

"Yeah! Take that!" Coco cried out in victory before noticing the android was still active and tackled her to the ground. A masculine cry told her that Fox was in the same situation as her.

She didn't have time to think about it though when the Goblin's gun was right in her face. It was a good thing that the masked Huntress was quicker than the headless androids as she drew her hand cannon and shot both of them to pieces.

"I said aim for the white cores in their chest. Losing their heads just pisses them off," the Huntress reprimanded the two, "But at least bunny girl and gigantor here remembered."

Coco wanted to argue over the fact that losing one's head was always fatal, even to robots but couldn't when a wall was blown to pieces, revealing more Goblins from behind it.

The Huntress threw another smoke bomb, concealing them with the combination of smoke and that invisibility semblance of hers. Team CFVY didn't need to be told twice to follow the Huntress out of the ruined house and into the safety of another one. They would have preferred it if it didn't still have the dead bodies of its inhabitants but beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes.

The masked Huntress didn't even spare the corpses a second glance as she pushed one off the table that it laid on. She was no doubt used to this kind of thing already in her line of work but she could be a bit more considerate to the dead.

"I just got some interesting news," the Huntress announced as she opened up her Scroll, "I had my partner survey the area on our ship and he found something that could either benefit us or not."

It showed the students a video of the Vex surrounding the entire border of the village. Their blood felt like ice when they noticed that the number of androids were much more than the ones hunting them down. It was practically an army out there and they weren't confident with their chances of survival now.

The Huntress zoomed in on the video to show them that the Vex were shooting at something. It took them a moment to realize what the androids were shooting at.

"Are they fighting the Grimm?" Yatsuhashi inquired as they watched the Vex hold back the biggest horde of Grimm that they had ever seen. The Grimm were most likely arracted to the negative energy of the town's massacre and wanted to join in but the Vex wouldn't let them.

Like what they did to the people here, the Vex were massacring the Grimm with no problem but the Grimm wouldn't let up.

"The Vex hate anything not Vex including the Grimm it seems," the Huntress mused, "The Darkness that a single unit radiates is enough to draw in a good number of them."

"Why would robots attract the Grimm?" Fox asked as he was familiarizing himself with the orange rifle that she lent to him.

Grimm would attack humans and Faunus on sight but they would ignore androids for the most part. They only bother to attack the androids if the machines provoked them somehow.

"They're cyborgs actually but that's beside the point," she clarified, "Even if you students were in peak condition, a three-way battle with the Grimm and the Vex would be the death of you."

"So we just let them kill each other before jumping in," Coco suggested, "No need to get in between them."

"That would be the best course of action," the Huntress admitted before spotting a small fleet of Atlesian dropships head into the town's airspace, "Huh, I actually forgot those were coming."

To be honest, so did Team CFVY.

"Well, that simplifies things then," the leader of Team CFVY said confidently, "With the Atlesian military here, they can handle these guys."

"They're going to die," the Huntress simply replied, shocking the team with the certainty of her words.

"The Atlesian military is the best in the world," Velvet tried to assure the Huntress, "I'm sure they won't be-"

Before the Faunus could finish her sentence, several large energy bolts collided against the ships. The dropships didn't so much as explode but more like they ceased to exist.

The camera adjusted itself to the one responsible for destroying those Atlesian dropships.

The students of Beacon thought the bulky androids, which they later learned were called Minotaurs, were the worst that the Vex could throw at them but they were proven wrong with what they saw.

The android was much bigger than the Minotaurs and resembled a robotic centipede as it floated its wriggling body through the air. The last dropship tried to fire back at the flying monstrosity but a blue shield blocked its heavy rounds. The centipede android fired an energy bolt from one of its cannons and delivered the same fate to the dropship as its comrades.

"Shit," the Huntress growled as the flying Vex finished off its targets, "This changes everything. I didn't think the Vex would consider this important enough to send in one of those."

"What the fuck is that thing!?" Coco demanded, clearly panicked like the rest of her team. The orange rifle fell from Fox's numb hands. Velvet's rabbit ears drooped down in fear and her skin became even paler while Yatsuhashi tried to make himself smaller despite being the tallest and biggest person in the room.

"A Hydra unit or to be more specific, a Mind unit. It's definitely the one leading the Vex units here," she told them gravely, collapsing her Scroll, "Minotaurs are nothing compared to them and it would take a full team of Gua- Huntsmen to take one down."

"How are we supposed to fight something like that?" the tallest person in the room whispered, whatever assurance he had left gone. Team CFVY were just students so they won't stand a chance against something that required a group of professional Huntsmen to kill.

"You're not," the Huntress said as she picked up her fallen rifle and snatched the sniper rifle from the Faunus girl's hands, "You kids are going back to Vale on my ship to warn the proper authorities. This is beyond your hands now."

"Wait just a minute," Coco began to protest but the Huntress placed a hand on her shoulder before she could continue. The next thing that the young woman knew, electricity coursed through her entire body as it spasmed violently before succumbing to unconsciousness.

"Sorry about that," the masked Huntress said with her hand still sparkling with some electricity as the brown haired girl fell to the floor in a smoking heap, "But you'll thank me later."

"As for you guys," the Huntress turned to refer to the rest of Team CFVY, who were very stupefied to see their leader knocked out so abruptly, "Do you want to leave willingly or do you want the same treatment as your friend here?"

The students hesitated for a moment but the Huntress took their silence as their answer.

The Huntress apparently also misread their answer before shocking them into unconsciousness.

00000

"Guardian, I think they were about to pick the first option," Drei said as Summer stood in the middle of the room with four knocked out teenagers.

"Oh," the Guardian rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "My bad."

"I think this is for the best though," the Ghost sighed, "It wouldn't do for them to poke around inside the Cloud Errant."

"Do you mind taking them to Vale," Summer referred to Team CFVY as she stowed away PT into her personal vault, "I'll deal with the Vex here as much as I can while you're gone."

"Understood," he replied, as the four students were teleported to the invisible jumpship before the ship took off to Vale, "Be careful out there, Guardian."

"Tell that to the Vex," she said as she held FS, "They'll need it more than I do."

The Guardian kicked opened the door of the ruined house that she was in and opened fire at the first Goblin that she saw, drawing their attention.

Summer tore through legion after legion of Vex with either straight up combat or guerilla tactics. She held nothing back as she dismantled every Vex unit that she could find.

As impressive as it was for Team CFVY to survive against the Vex for so long, they would only slow her down. She already had to save them several times.

Then there was the Mind unit.

She wasn't lying when she said that it would usually take a team of Huntsmen/Guardians to kill a Mind but those were for ordinary Guardians/Huntsmen. She was far from an ordinary Guardian and had taken on Mind units by herself before.

Summer was a bit grateful that it wasn't the Undying Mind though. She would rather have Fireteam Nero by her side if she had to face that thing again. Anything that had the sole purpose of reviving the Black Heart was bound to be no pushover.

Don't get the female Guardian wrong. She was perfectly capable of handling the Vex forces here while watching over the students but seeing the Mind unit changed things. Even she was not fully confident enough to take on a Mind while making sure that the students don't die on her.

Saving their lives was one of the main reasons why she was here. It would be counterproductive to let them fight an enemy that they had no chance of beating.

Summer smashed the butt of FS on a Goblin's arm, literally disarming it of its weapon. Her fingers wrapped around the Vex unit's neck and she slammed it against a wall.

"Hey, remember me?" she asked rhetorically as her helmet dematerialized to show it the cheerful smile on her face, "The Guardian that killed the Black Heart and Atheon?"

There was no use in trying to communicate with the Vex as it had been done before and failed but Summer wasn't trying to start a conversation with it. She was trying to catch the attention of the Mind unit.

It might be presumptious of her but she had a feeling that the Vex units here were sent to find her and possibly eliminate her. There were too little of them here to invade a Kingdom let alone an entire planet. They may be technologically superior but they prefer to vastly outnumber their enemies by a hundred to one.

It would also explained why there was a Mind unit with them. Summer may be one Guardian but she was still a force to be reckoned with as evidenced by Atheon and the Black Heart.

"If you do, then come get me," she said, her face as emotionless as the dead. She then fired a three round burst into the Goblin's chest killing it.

Materializing Order's Mask back into place, Summer set off to hunt down more Vex until she drew the attention of the Mind unit. It turned out that she didn't have to wait long.

After killing Traveler knows how many Goblin, Summer found herself in what was left of the town square surrounded by Minotaurs with the Hydra Mind unit floating above her.

"Wow," she whistled at the number of heavy units that were sent after her, "You guys must really want me dead for good."

Swapping Fair and Square for Thorn, the Guardian dashed around the ruined town square, dodging explosive Void bolts and shooting at every Minotaur that she could see.

After weakening the Minotaurs's armour with Thorn's curse, Summer finished them off quickly with Bolt-caster. That tactic worked well with dealing with Minotaurs fast but it sadly wasn't as effective on the stronger versions like the Praetorians and Gate Lords.

But for every Minotaur that she killed, another one would take its place. It was beginning to be very irritating to the Guardian. It also didn't help that the Hydra Mind unit was firing at her from above while she was unable to retaliate unless she wanted to be flanked by Minotaurs.

Even though she could defeat them easily, all that a Minotaur needed was a lucky shot to kill her and with this many, she couldn't afford to lose focus.

Summer raised Bolt-caster as an onslaught of Void bolts slammed into the Arc shield that the sword formed. Even with blocking them, she could still feel herself being pushed back as her boots dug into the ground.

As her Arc shield was being pelted by Void bolts, a Minotaur teleported behind her and swung its claw at her exposed back. Summer rolled out of the way before it could hit. The Minotaur was then destroyed by friendly fire since it was now in the line of fire.

Another Minotaur teleported itself close to her in an attempt to take her by surprise but it had its Torch Hammer cut in half for its trouble before the Guardian severed its legs out from under it. She stuck a flux grenade on its back before Blinking the both of them into a group of Minotaurs huddled together. She left the now explosive Minotaur with its fellow Vex as she teleported away.

She didn't watch the ensuing fireworks as she brought herself higher through a series of Blinks towards the Hydra Mind unit. She had to Blink in a zigzagged pattern or else she would be blown out of the sky by the Hydra's Torch Hammers.

When she finally reached the Mind unit, Summer was met with its blue energy shield. There was no way she could break through the invincible shield so she decided that she wouldn't.

Her boots landed on the shield before she kicked herself up and began running up the shield like it was a platform. As she reached the top of the shield, she flipped over it and plunged Bolt-caster into its big blowing eye upon her descent.

Channeling Arc energy into her body and blade, Summer started her assault.

Like it was previously stated, Bladedancers could channel their Arc powers through different mediums. It was why Summer tried to use the Arc Blade with a Knight's Cleaver at first but it failed miserably because the dark Hive magic prevented the Guardian's Light from intermingling properly.

But then she got Arc Edge, the prototype of Bolt-caster.

What if she could channel the Arc Blade through a weapon that was already infused with Arc energy?

Wanting to see what would happen, Summer tried it out with Arc Edge. The results were nothing short of devastating as evidenced by the burnt hole that used to be her room in the Tower.

In hindsight, maybe Summer shouldn't have tried that while she was still inside the Tower?

But she wasn't discouraged by that first failure and kept practicing with it until she finally mastered it.

Which the Guardian hadn't yet even after acquiring Bolt-caster but she no longer killed herself by accident whenever she used it.

Summer still exploded but it doesn't hurt her as much anymore.

So when she activated the Arc Blade with Bolt-caster as its medium, a large explosion of Arc energy detonated right in the Hydra Mind unit's face, sending it hurtling towards the ground.

The Guardian dragged her sword along the length of the Hydra before jumping off the alien cyborg. Using nearby buildings as springboards, she darted past the Hydra multiple times, carving deep grooves in its armour while manuevering herself around, over or under its shield.

After carving open a particularly big hole on the Hydra Mind unit's armour, Summer saw something that caught her eye within the Vex's chassis. It was a glowing orb that was almost the same size as her head.

"That looks important," she mused before reaching her free hand into the Vex and tearing it out. After all, anything that was big and glowed just had to be important.

It looked like she was right as the Mind unit gave out an ear-piercing shriek. As its shriek slowly died out, the giant Vex fell towards the earth where it exploded, destroying the remaining Minotaurs in the process.

Summer landed on the roof of a building as the Hydra died. Sheathing Bolt-caster, she held up the orb to her face with a critical eye.

There was no way that her more destructive Arc Blade was enough to kill the Hydra Mind unit. Hydras were tough sons of bitches and the Mind units were even more so. That Mind unit could have taken her Arc Blade yet still have enough life to fight back. It had died shortly after she tore this orb out of its body.

So just like she had first assumed, the thing in her hands had to be important. The only question left to answer was why.

"Drei, pick me up. I'm done here," Summer called her Ghost through the comms.

With the Mind unit dead, the remaining Vex were not as effective anymore. In fact, she could see the Vex gradually being overwhelmed by the Grimm in the distance. She also doubted that there were still survivors besides Team CFVY. The Vex were very thorough when it came to purging life.

As the Cloud Errant appeared before her, Summer gave the orb one last look before teleporting to inside of the ship.

Whatever this orb was, it might have the answers that she was looking for like why the Vex were here on Remnant for starters.


	12. Aftermath

AN:

To the guest reviewer, my name my game: The reason why the Vex are on Remnant will be answered later on in the story. And Summer still sort of has her silver eye power. I believed I made a referrence to it in chapter nine.

00000

Chapter 12

Summer Rose and her Ghost were back in their hideout in Vale. With the Mind unit and the villagers dead, they had no more reason to be in the village anymore so they quickly made it back.

"So any ideas what it is?" Summer asked as she stared at the orb that she ripped out of the Mind unit.

The orb was placed on a workbench that she salvaged from the garbage. The workbench was actually still in pretty good condition in spite of the smell. The things that denizens of Remnant would throw out.

At least back on Earth, it would be recycled into spare parts and Glimmer.

"I don't believe it," Drei muttered in disbelief as he scanned the object.

"So you don't know what it is?"

"I didn't think I would ever see one with my own eye even after all this time that I spent with you," he continued, not really listening to her.

"So you do know what it is?"

"Yes, this is a synaptic core. It's what passes for a CPU in the Vex," he explained excitedly, "You literally ripped out both the heart and the brain of a Mind unit."

No other Guardian was able to salvage any kind of intel from a Mind unit since they had the tendency to explode when they die. Also, no Guardian in their right mind would think to confront a Mind unit in close quarters to get the chance at extracting its core intact.

It was too bad for the Vex that Guardian Summer Rose wasn't what you would call in their right state of mind. Some would argue that she wasn't in any state of mind.

If what the Ghost said was true, which it most likely was, then they could look inside the core and see what the Vex were planning.

"Nice," the Guardian rubbed her hands in anticipation before pulling out several power tools like a drill and a welding torch, "Let's crack this puppy open and see what's inside."

"Nooo!" Drei screamed in alarm even going as far as tackling her on the side of her head with his tiny body.

Summer was knocked to the ground from the blow to the head mostly because she sure as hell wasn't expecting a Ghost to attack her like that and couldn't prepare herself in time.

Ghost were not designed for combat despite their touch shell. They were more for providing intel and resurrection to their Guardian than physical confrontation so Guardian Rose was the first person to make a Ghost resort to violence.

"Ow. For such a little guy, you pack one mean punch," Summer said, rubbing the part of her head that he hit, "You didn't have to do that, you know?"

"I'm sorry but you were going to damage crucial data that could save this planet!" Drei exclaimed furiously right in her face, "Excuse me for being the only one with common sense between us!"

"Then how are we supposed to get the intel inside this thing?" the Guardian inquired, standing back up.

"You leave that to me, Guardian," the Ghost said as he returned to scanning the synaptic core, "The Vex don't see things like we do so their code is all cryptical. It's going to take me some time to decipher and organize all this data."

"How long?"

"Days, weeks or months. I don't know. Even though no one had successfully extracted data from them before, the Vex put up some very serious firewalls on the core."

"And we both know how long it takes you to open a door," Summer rolled her eyes in exasperation as she recalled how it took the Ghost hours to unlock a simple door that she could have opened with a well placed explosive in under a minute, "But is there a way that you can hurry it up? Remnant doesn't have that much time."

"I'll see what I can do but in the meantime, why don't you go visit Team CFVY and see how they are doing? You did electrocute them after all."

"Hey, I made sure to regulate how many volts that I used so it would just stun them," she retorted as she idly brought out a weapons magazine, "Besides, I sent them some flowers as an apology."

"Yes, nothing says 'I'm sorry for electrocuting you' like flowers," he snorted sarcastically.

"Those flowers were expensive and it also had a note attached to it."

"Do you even remember their names?"

"Their names are Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina and Yatsuhashi Daichi, right?"

The Guardian looked up the members of Team CFVY during the trip back to Vale. Summer did promise that she would put in the effort to learn the names of the people that she saved and she wasn't one to break her promises.

The thought of breaking her promises always made her heart clench so painfully. Whenever she tried to find the reason why this happened, she would see the vision of those two little girls again.

"Yes, that is correct," the Ghost nodded grudgingly, "I also uploaded some data on the Vex into the leader's Scroll for her to deliver to the Council of Vale or some other person of authority."

"You didn't put anything too world shattering, did you?"

"Of course not," Drei rolled his eye, "I imagined the idea of hostile alien life would not be too well received but they won't be completely caught off guard when the Vex show themselves again."

"Sooo when did you say you would be finished with that again?" she asked, flipping through the pages of her weapons magazine.

"I'll try to decrypt the most recent data first," the Ghost told her, "That would take about a few days to finish."

"Neat," she said idly, not really paying attention.

She was more enraptured by the weapons magazine in her hands than what the Ghost was doing. She turned the magazine sideways and a picture unfolded downwards for a full body shot.

"Now _that's_ a katana," Summer stated, eyeing the imagery from top to bottom with a wide grin.

"Well, at least she has something to entertain herself with," Drei said to himself as he got back to work.

A bored Summer was a very dangerous thing to have for both friends and foe alike. The ways that she would keep herself amused could range from silly pranks to downright unorthodox experiments that usually end with destructive results.

Her teammates from Fireteam Nero does manage to provide her with suitable distractions but without Prometheus-23 and Lux Sylphid to hold her back here on Remnant, Traveler knew what sort of tomfoolery that Summer would get herself into.

00000

It had only been a few hour since Team CFVY's distress call and the fleet that Ironwood generously sent to rescue them were suddenly destroyed. Ozpin had feared the worst had befallen his students.

The second year team's mission should have been at a level that they could have handled with their skills but the life of a Huntsman was full of unexpected surprises.

The last thing that the rescue fleet reported was that the village where Miss Coco Adel's team was sent to was reduced to ruins. They then lost contact with the ships before they could give a more detailed report.

So it was to the Headmaster's surprise that he had gotten a call from the Vale General Hospital about Team CFVY being checked in for treatment.

That couldn't be possible. It would take twenty minutes to reach Vale by bullhead and it would take the team five hours to make it back to Vale if they decided to go by foot. It was also shortly after Ironwood lost contact with the fleet so the timeline won't add up.

To find out what happened, Ozpin cleared his schedule and ordered for a bullhead to take him to Vale. General Ironwood would follow shortly after.

"What is their condition, doctor?" the Headmaster of Beacon asked as the doctor assigned to Team CFVY led him to their room.

"Well, all of them are suffering from Aura exhaustion. Mr. Daichi was shot in the shoulder and two cracked ribs while Mr. Alistair has multiple second-degree burns over his body. Ms. Scarletina also has a cracked rib but is otherwise fine," the doctor listed down before stopping at the door where the patients in question were being kept, "The only one who remained mostly uninjured is Ms. Adel with only a few cuts and bruises here and there."

"Is it alright if I talk to them?" he inquired before clarifying, "To make sure my students are alright?"

"I see no problem with that. I'm sure they would feel more comfortable if they see a familiar face," the doctor said with a gentle smile as he opened the door for him, "I also had them put in the same room after their treatment."

It was the second time that Ozpin visited someone in the hospital this week and he hoped that there wouldn't be a third time.

The Headmaster found his students sitting in their hospital beds. Their usual apparel replaced by a pure white hospital gown and their faces were covered in bandages. Yatsuhashi's right arm being in a sling was the only obvious injury that showed they just survived a near death experience.

The other sign would be the haunted and far off looks in their eyes. Ozpin had seen those eyes on many Huntsmen that had been through too many traumatic experiences. It pained him to see those on his young students who had yet to see the cruelty of this world.

Team CFVY were so lost in their reminiscing that they seemed to have not yet noticed his presence.

Ozpin cleared his throat to catch their attention. It both surprised and worried him that the second year team jumped off the beds and onto their feet while looking around for an unseen foe. Only until their wary eyes landed on his form, did they calm themselves as if assuring to themselves that they were in a safe place.

"Miss Adel, are you and your team alright?" Ozpin queried with slight worry in his tone while subtly clenching his cane.

What horrors had the second year students witnessed for them to react like that?

"Oh, it's just you professor," Miss Adel sighed in relief as she and her teammates got back into their beds, "Yeah, we're fine, I guess."

The Headmaster pulled up a chair and sat at the foot of Miss Adel's bed.

"I know you and your team must have been through a traumatic experience and wouldn't wish to relive them," he said, placing his cane to the side, "But I need you to tell me what happened on your mission."

"Oh god, where do I start first?" Coco Adel placed a hand over her face.

"The beginning would be the best place to start," he suggested gently.

"Right," the leader of Team CFVY removed her hand before taking a deep breath, "We arrived at Oakenwood Village sometime after noon where we found that it was almost completely decimated."

"Any survivors?" Ozpin couldn't help but ask, hoping that there were. He was dismayed when the young brown haired girl shook her head in response.

"Wait, we did find one," Velvet Scarlatina spoke up, catching her professor's interest, "But he was killed before we could do anything to help him."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he solemnly said. He truly meant it. It was one thing to see the dead bodies of civilians but it was another thing entirely to watch someone die before your very eyes and not being able to do anything.

"Yeah but it was what killed him that caught us off guard," Coco continued.

Ozpin was paying close attention now. The team must have seen the ones responsible for attacking the village. His mind raced with different possibilities.

Was it the White Fang, a new kind of Grimm or something else entirely?

"It looked like an android."

That took the Headmaster by surprise. The only one that had combat-able androids was Atlas and he knew for a fact that Ironwood would never sanction such an operation.

"But it wasn't like any android that we've ever seen. It wasn't an Atlesian Knight or a Paladin. It was stronger, faster, deadlier," Miss Adel described it with a slight shudder, "If one of us tried to take it on alone, it would have killed us. Heh, it nearly did even when we were working together. I think it might be through sheer dumb luck that we survived and killed it."

An android not of Atlas. Impossible. Atlas was the only Kingdom with the knowledge and resources to produce them so there was no way some one could make their own line that were even deadlier than the Atlesian military's. Not without people noticing at least.

Yet he could sense that his student was telling him the truth.

"But it didn't come alone. There were so many of them. We tried to get out of there as fast as we can but they kept popping out to block the exits and our ride was also shot down and, and, and…" Coco began to ramble before she finished in an almost timid voice, "We thought we were going to die…"

Ozpin made a move to comfort the normally confident young woman but he stopped when he heard what she said next.

"Then she came. The Huntress in the white cloak. She saved our lives."

"It can't be…" Ozpin whispered.

Coco turned away from her thoughts and saw that the Headmaster had a difficult expression on his face, "Do you know her, professor?"

Ozpin quickly reigned in the emotions that were leaking out on his face.

"Yes but I thought her assignment was taking place elsewhere," he smoothly lied, "She should have been nowhere near Oakenwood Village when it happened."

The professor couldn't exactly tell them that their savior was actually a wanted criminal who stole half of a mythical figure's power. The less people that knew of the situation, the better.

"I guess her mission brought her to the village," the brown haired second year student accepted without question, "That would explain why she knew so much of those androids."

"What else can you tell me about these androids?" he asked, subtly changing the subject.

"I managed to take a few pictures but I don't think the quality would be any-huh?" Coco reached for her Scroll to him the pictures but she stopped in confusion, "I don't remember this being here."

"She must have uploaded this while we were unconscious," she said, skimming through some of the new files.

"Do you mind if I transfer it my Scroll?" Ozpin took out his own Scroll in one hand while gesturing for her Scroll with other hand.

After transfering the files to his Scroll, Professor Ozpin had Coco finish the rest of her story. Just as when she reached the part about the android that required a team fully composed of Huntsmen to defeat, a nurse came in to tell him that visiting hours were over.

Not wanting to overstay his welcome, the Headmaster stood up to leave. He wasn't surprised to find that General Ironwood was waiting for him outside. Ozpin appreciated that his friend had the sense to not press his already traumatized students for information and let Ozpin take care of it.

"What did you learned from them?" James inquired with his hands behind his back as he stood rigidly at attention.

Ozpin raised his Scroll to him and showed him the image of a Vex Hydra unit, one of the heavy hitters of their new enemy. Ironwood froze at the sight of an android that looked so advance that it made the newly released Atlesian Knights and Paladins look like mere toys in comparison.

"It seems another enemy has made itself known," the Headmaster of Beacon said, switching the image to one with a familiar white cloak wearing rogue Huntress fighting these androids, "One that is just as ruthless as the Grimm and what the rogue Huntress that we're searching for knows more about than we do."

"I'll make a call to transfer more of my forces here. It appears that I am not as cautious as I wished to be with thosse things out there. I will just offer the excuse of them being the added security to the Vytal Festival," Ironwood said, "I assume you won't have any problems with this?"

Ozpin stood silently as he read through more of the files on their newest enemy, the Vex.

"For once, I don't," he finally answered as he stopped at a particular image.

"But what I am more concerned with is that it might not be enough," he added, looking at a picture of an army of these Vex androids gathering together. The numbers were more than the amount of Atlesian Knights and Paladins that Ironwood brought with him and if what the intel said was true, then a single Vex unit had more destructive capabilities than a dozen Atlesian Knights put together.

"We need to find the rogue Huntress now more than ever," Ozpin said, "She is the key to telling us what the Vex really are and how to defeat them."

"I will have my men scour all of Remnant to find her," James stated resolutely, "She won't stay hidden for long."

"Yet she was able to elude you all this time," he pointed out, earning a twitch from the Atlesian general's brow.

"Then what do you suppose I should do?"

"There was one person who was able to find this Huntress but could not apprehend her. He could help you find her again."

They both knew who this person was.

Panic briefly appeared on Ironwood's face as he realized what Ozpin was insinuating.

"Ozpin, I-" the general tried to say but was cut off by the silver haired man.

"James, you know what is at stake here."

"Yes, but Qrow would never let me hear the end of it, especially when I tell him we'll need to bring her in alive," James sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What is more important? Your petty vendetta with Qrow or the protection of the people?"

Ironwood already had the answer to that but it doesn't mean that he would like it.

Wherever this rogue Huntress was, they could only guess to what her agenda was and what part that she had to play in all of this.

00000

"~I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes!~" Summer Rose, the rogue Huntress, sang along with the song, the Sign as she did one-handed push-ups.

There was no need for Guardians to exercise but it was one way for her to pass the time while waiting for Drei to finish. She had already finished with working on the ship and her weapons and she couldn't leave the hideout without her Ghost so she chose to work out a bit.

The Guardian had already performed more than a hundred repetition for one arm and switched to her other hand after she reached a solid two hundred.

She eventually finished another two hundred reps and decided to end the session there. It wasn't like she was tired or anything but six straight hours of intense training was enough to get to anyone even if they don't get physically exhausted anymore.

Summer took off her armour in exchange for a white tank top and black long pants with white roses as decoration.

A five minute nap wasn't enough to make up for weeks of no sleep so she decided that now would be a good time. Drei told her that he would inform when he was done so sleeping for a few days wouldn't hurt.

The Guardian could sleep for a whole week if she could and there wasn't anything for her to do anyway.

"Drei, wake me up when something interesting happens," she said to her Ghost before laying on a hammock that she set up with her spare cloaks. After making herself comfortable, she closed her eyes and drifted off.

00000

AN:

If you're wondering why Coco and the rest of Team CFVY seemed Ooc in this chapter, then let me explain it to you. Team CFVY just saw the aftermath of a slaughter and had the Vex chase after them for who knows how long. If Summer didn't come to save them, then they would have died and they know it.

Even though they are more experience than Team RWBY, they just went through a traumatizing experience and barely made it out alive. If you were in their shoes, can you honestly say that you would remain unfazed by all of that.


	13. Every Nightmare Just Discloses

AN:

There is an issue with the reviews on this site. The newest ones don't seem to be showing so for now, just pm me your reactions to this chapter.

00000

Chapter 13

A roar burst out from four barrels as a Taken Captain was blasted back. Prometheus-23 cocked the 4th Horseman, expelling its spent shells. Before he could finish reloading. The Darkness corrupted Fallen charged at the Exo with swords raised to cleave him into two.

Ducking under the blades, the Titan tackled the Taken with his shoulder. The Hive materials of the ship held as the Taken impacted on one of its wall with Prometheus pinning it there. The Guardian reared his arm back and smashed his armoured fist into its chest, caving it inwards.

Pulling back, Prometheus reloaded the 4th Horseman and pressed its four barrels against the Taken's face. He squeezed the trigger and the Taken's head exploded into bluish white mist before the rest of the body followed.

He heard the hissing of Taken Thralls heading his way. He turned to see them being accompanied by a Taken Wizard. Cocking his gun, the Titan tracked the path of several Thralls as they teleported before taking them out with his shotgun.

Prometheus managed to kill all but of one of the Thralls as the last one was now at clawing range of him. The Titan grabbed the wrist of the corrupted Hive before its claw could touch his armour and he expelled the last round into its chest.

After seeing its minions being disposed of, the Taken Wizard summoned a horde of Shadow Thralls to rend him limb from limb. The Exo Titan holstered 4th Horseman on his back as he rushed towards the Hive foes.

Prometheus held out his hand as the Hammer of Sol formed within it. Smashing the embodiment of the sun left and right, he bulldozed through the Shadow Thralls. Every foe that was killed by the blazing hammer were turned into fiery explosions that incinerated more of their Hive brethen.

Once he reached the Taken Wizard, Prometheus leapt into the air and brought his hammer down onto its effeminate form, sending it crashing into the ground. Before it could teleport away, the Guardian brought the Hammer of Sol crashing down towards its face. The Wizard raised its arms to shield its face in a futile attempt to defend itself.

The Taken didn't have enough time to realize that its arms and face had been crushed before it disintergrated into ashes.

The Titan held his Solar weapon at the ready as he surveyed the area for anymore hostiles. He slightly relaxed his tensed form when he saw no immediate threat.

"Is that the last of them, Pan?" the Exo turned to ask his Ghost as the Hammer of Sol in his hand faded away into embers.

He and Lux decided that they would cover more ground if they split up. Both of them were capable of fighting off hordes of Taken by themselves. As long as they don't run into a high ranking Taken that still lingered after Oryx's defeat, they'll be fine.

"There are no more enemies in this sector," his Ghost, Pandora, said as he drew the 4th Horseman from his back.

Unlike other Ghosts, Pandora (or Pan for short) had a more feminine voice. He didn't know why nor did he care to find out the reason. Pan didn't know the reason either since she was like that ever since she could remember.

"Understood, moving on to the next sector," Prometheus said as he reloaded his gun with a loud clack.

He and Lux Sylphid had been fighting Taken for more than a week with the only break they took was when they had to restock on ammunition and they weren't even close to halfway done with clearing out the Dreadnaught. They could have gotten the mission finished faster if there were more Guardians to assist them but having more Guardians transferred to the Dreadnaught would alert the Vanguard to what Cayde-6 was planning.

Being the wet blankets that they were (Cayde's words, not his), Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey would immediately put a stop to this operation and whatever chance at getting their teammate back.

But for Summer Rose's sake, they couldn't afford to stop now.

As Prometheus marched past a corner, a Taken Vandal leapt at him from the side as it dual-wielded two Shock Blades. Not even breaking his stride, the Guardian fired his shotgun point black at the Taken while giving it a mere glance before it dispersed into bluish white mist.

He had sparred with Summer Rose plenty of times to not let his guard down even when it looked like he was the only one in the room.

"Thank you, Summer," Prometheus said as he cocked the shotgun.

Summer Rose had the habit of collecting as much weaponry as she could so her collection was far more vast than other Guardians. But Summer couldn't use all of the guns at once so she either hoarded them in her personal vault or had the old ones broken down into spare parts and Glimmer.

For her more exotic and powerful treasures that she doesn't use, Summer gave some of them to her teammates in Fireteam Nero.

The 4th Horseman in Prometheus' hands was one of those weapons.

Prometheus had several powerful weapons that he acquired on his own but the 4th Horseman was his personal favorite.

The Titan glanced at one of his HUDs and it showed him that he was running out of ammunintion for his shotgun. He would have to make a trip back to his jumpship to restock.

Even though Prometheus was good enough to take on most of the Taken with his bare hands, he would rather have a gun with plenty of ammo to shoot them with. He wasn't like his Hunter teammate who was able to fight off hordes of enemy before she even needed to pull out a gun.

The way back to the jumpships were empty since they had cleared those sectors already so the Exo didn't have to worry about meeting anymore Taken. It didn't mean that he would let his guard down though.

In spite of how tense the Exo was, no incident occurred as he made it to his ship. With his ammo replenished, the Titan went back to killing every last Taken on this ship. It would take some time but it was to be expected from clearing out a ship this size.

Prometheus just hoped that they would make it on time.

00000

"You want me to work with her!" Qrow Branwen exclaimed in outrage, looking at James Ironwood like he lost his mind.

General Ironwood had called the scythe-master to meet him in his personal flagship. Knowing Qrow's tendency to be late, the general told him to meet on the ship an hour earlier than when the meeting was actually scheduled to be so the Huntsman managed to make it on time without him even realizing it.

As much as he loathed to admit, Ironwood needed the drunkard's help since he actually found the rogue Huntress and was the closest to catching her. Of course, the general wouldn't let Qrow search for the Huntress on his own but the veteran Huntsman wasn't very fond of Atlesian androids.

So Ironwood would have to send one of his Atlas Specialists to aid Qrow in their (wo)manhunt for the False Maiden. The Atlas Specialist had to be a capable fighter and have experience with facing the rogue Huntress in battle. Only one person fit those criteria.

"Why the hell do you think I even need or want Ice Queen's help!" Qrow rudely pointed at the Atlas Specialist, Winter Schnee.

"I am standing before you," the white haired woman nearly spat through clenched teeth, "You do not speak of me as if I am not."

Ironwood had Specialist Schnee discreetly transferred to Vale so she could join in on the search. She wasn't told all of the details yet and only knew who their target was but not anything top secret like the Maidens and the Vex.

"Qrow, Schnee, I know you two…" Ironwood tried to find the proper words, "Don't associate with each other well but I need you to set aside your differences in exchange for the bigger picture."

"Qrow, you're the one that came closest to catching the rogue Huntress," the general continued before turning to the elder Schnee, "Specialist Schnee here is the only one of my agents that has experience with her."

"Yeah and that experience was getting her pretty ass handed to her by said rogue Huntress," Qrow retorted with a snort.

Winter's left eye began twitching violently as her hand edged closer to her sword. She looked about ready to attack the Huntsman but the gloved hand of General Ironwood gripping her shoulder tightly prevented her from starting a fight.

"And you failed to apprehend her as well, Qrow," James countered, "You cannot capture her alone."

The two men knew what the False Maiden was capable of with her stolen powers and they both knew that she was still holding herself back in her with against Qrow. The former member of Team STRQ might not survive a second encounter if she decided to use her Maiden abilities in conjunction to her deadly skills.

And then there was the fact that they weren't sure if the rogue Huntress was human or Faunus.

The Huntress' DNA wasn't like anything they had ever seen before. It contained trace amounts of human DNA but the rest were a complete mystery. Ironwood had already sent the DNA results to several geneticists to find out what it was but they were all completely stumped as to the foreign nature of the DNA.

"With all due respect, sir," Winter spoke up, standing haughtily at attention, "This is an Atlesian military issue. We don't require to enlist the aid of such an impudent ruffian like him."

"Oh, that one hurt my feelings," Qrow placing a hand on his chest in mock pain, "Your words cut pretty deep, Ice Queen."

Winter wanted to show him that her blades cut deeper as her deceptively dainty fingers enclosed around the hilt of her saber.

"That's enough, Qrow," the Huntsman and the Atlas Specialist stiffened when they heard the familiar voice of Professor Ozpin. They turned to see the man himself enter the room.

"There are more at stake here than stolen military property," he added as Qrow's Scroll alerted him that he got a new message.

He took out his Scroll to see the image of their target fighting androids that were definitely not from Atlas. Features hardening, he put away the Scroll before Ice Queen could catch a glimpse at what he saw.

"Fine, she can come," he finally said, surprising the elder Schnee that he would change his mind so quickly, "But on one condition."

"Name it," Ironwood said with no hesitation.

"She follows my lead. I call the shots. Me," he said with a tone that he wouldn't budge in the least, "Not you and especially not her."

Winter opened her mouth to argue but Ironwood beat her to it. Just not in the way that she'd expected.

"Deal," her superior officer nodded before turning to regard her, "Specialist Schnee, for the duration of this operation, you are to follow Qrow's orders as if they are my own. Understood?"

"But, sir-" she tried to protest.

"I said," he interrupted with a hard look that made her shut her mouth before repeating himself, "Understood?"

"Understood, sir!" her arm whipped into a salute.

"I so need a drink right now. I am too sober for this shit," Qrow grumbled, reaching for his flask before remembering that he crushed it and hadn't bought a new one yet, "This day just keeps getting better and better."

00000

"Guardian, have you been sleeping this whole time?" the voice of her Ghost roused Summer from her sleep and made her slip off the makeshift hammock, "It's been more than a week!"

Summer stopped herself from falling flat on her face by putting her hands and knees before her so she would land on all fours. Dusting herself off, she got to her feet before her armour minus the helmet replaced her pajamas.

"And this is why I buy an alarm clock even though I always break them," she explained, stretching her body a bit.

"Well anyway, I managed to decode some of the data from the Mind core," Drei said.

"Hey, wait a minute," she realized something, "I thought you said it would take a few days to decode the most recent data?"

"The Vex don't sort their files in chronological order or they simply don't see chronological events the same way as we do so what I thought to be recent turned out to be hundreds of years old," he explained as he floated over the Mind core on the workbench, "I had to organize the data in way that made sense, which took me the better part of two days. I then spent the rest of the week decrypting them until I got the general overview of what the Vex are looking for on this planet."

"And I was just beginning to appreciate how fast at collecting information you are while on Remnant," the Guardian mumbled.

"If I had a proper terminal to plug in the Mind core, then I would have gotten it done faster but not only would that alert every Vex units still on the planet to our location, connecting a still active Mind core to any computer on Remnant is a recipe for disaster."

"Why's that?" Summer asked, staring at the core in curiousity.

"Because despite its current state, it is still alive," Drei dropped that bombshell on her, "That's another reason why it took me so long."

"It was fighting back," she realized, "What are the chances that it's trying to call its friends."

"It already had the moment you ripped it out from its body."

"Well," she mulled over the implications of this before asking, "What did you manage to find out?"

"I don't know the exact reason why the Vex are here besides exterminating anything not Vex but I do know it has something to do with-" the Ghost stopped in the middle of his findings.

"Is everything alright, Drei?" Summer asked, worried since he never stopped in the middle of one of his expositions.

"There are two intruders inside the building," he told her, prompting her to put on her helmet to see the security feed, "And they are well acquainted with us."

Summer saw two very familiar figures on the security feed. One male and one female. She recognized the female as whitey from the white hair and clothes while she recognized the male as the scythe-wielder who can also transform into a crow.

She will now refer to the man as Crow since he was a crow when they first met.

"Looks like whitey and Crow are looking for me," the Guardian noted as she watched them explore the abandoned building that was hiding under.

That would mean that Crow was working for the Atlesian military if whitey was there with him. Wait, he doesn't look like the military type. He must be a mercenary that was hired to catch her by the Atlesian military then.

She had read somewhere that Huntsmen and Huntresses would take on other mercenary jobs besides exterminating Grimm.

"Let's see how far they go," she said, putting her stuff away in preparation to leave.

It was unlikely that they would check the basement but it wouldn't hurt to have a fallback plan just in case they do.

But it still felt like Summer was forgetting something important.

"Guardian, did you remember to disable the motion sensors when you rigged those tripmines?" Drei spoke up as she finished removing every trace that she lived here.

The Guardian thought about it for a moment as she recalled the things that she modified to the traps. All she ever modified was the timer.

"Oops."

00000

"Are you sure this is the correct location?" Winter sneered at Qrow as they entered the old office building, "I doubt our quarry is hiding in here."

"The info I got from Junior is legit and she was heading somewhere around here when I found her that night," Qrow said, looking at a copy of the list that Hei Xiong gave to the rogue Huntress.

The Huntsman was actually surprised that the info-broker was so eager to give this list to him. He didn't even have to pay for it. Qrow normally had to either threaten or bribe the guy before getting anything useful out of them. This was a nice change of pace.

He crossed out all of the abandoned warehouses since Ironwood already had those checked out. This place and several others were the only ones left but this building seemed like the most likely hideout.

There was also the chance that the Huntress left the building for a while now but it still wouldn't hurt to check for clues.

As they passed a slightly crumbling column, the Huntsman and the Atlas Specialist were alerted by a long beep.

"Get down!" he cried out in alarm as the explosive on the column went off.

He raised his weapon in its greatsword form to shield his body from the blast while Winter summoned a glyph to protect hers. It was a pretty small explosion than what they were expecting but it was soon followed by more small explosions going off around them.

Qrow wondered what was the point for those weak explosives to go off all at once. His unspoken question was answered as the building began shake from its foundation.

If there was any doubts that the rogue Huntress was here, then they were gone now much like the structural stability of this building.

The two quickly ran to the exit but debris fell before them and barricaded it. Even though they were capable of removing the obstuction, they didn't have enough time to do it with the building coming down on top of them.

"Qrow!" Winter called out to him before pointing towards a window, "Look!"

Ice Queen didn't need to tell the scythe-master twice as to what to do.

Winter called out a series of glyphs, which she used as platforms to jump towards their goal while Qrow kicked off the falling debris to propel himself towards the window. Elder Schnee manuevered herself around any debris that got too close while the male Branwen simply sliced through them with his sword.

Qrow and Winter crashed through the window with some time to spare as they landed on their feet. Besides being covered in a thick layer of dust (the dirt kind), they came out of that trap relatively unscathed.

If Ironwood had sent his androids and soldiers to this location, then they would be wiped out in one fell swoop by that trap. It was a good thing that it wasn't as effective on professional Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"Wow, that was a lot more destructive than I thought it would be," a female voice that was a bit distorted said beside them.

A voice of a person that wasn't with them in the first place.

Qrow and Winter turned their heads to the side so fast that a normal person would have experienced whiplash. There standing beside the Atlas Specialist was the white cloak wearing Huntress that they were looking for.

"That's what I call _bringing_ _the_ _roof_ _down_ ," the rogue Huntress said as she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the pile of rubble that was once her safehouse.

"Am I right?" she turned her masked head to look at the silently raging Schnee before raising her hand for a high-five, "Don't leave me hanging."

Instead of returning the gesture, Winter Schnee drew her saber and thrust it towards the Huntress' visor but the hand that was raised for the high-five whipped out and caught the blade an inch before it could even touch her.

"Now that wasn't very nice," the Huntress said as her hand burst into flames, turning the saber in her grip red hot and warping the metal, "But to be fair, I did almost drop a building on top of us."

Before either Winter or Qrow could stop her, the masked Huntress squeezed the blade and snapped the weakened metal into two. As the white haired woman was shocked at losing her weapon, the Huntress drew a knife in her free hand and slammed the pommel towards her temple.

Winter ducked under the blow as Qrow swiped at the Huntress with his sword. The Huntress back flipped away from the strike while tossing the knife into her still flaming hand.

Qrow held his blade to the side as the gears where the crossguard should be started to spin.

"This time, I'm taking you do-" he was about to transform his weapon into his signature scythe but he was interrupted by the knife now lodged between the gears, "You edgy bitch."

If it was a normal knife, then it would have been shattered into many pieces when it got stuck between the gears of his weapon but the knife had been superheated that it melted the gears together thus preventing him from using his weapon's ranged or scythe form.

Qrow was now stuck with wielding the sword form. As good as he was with the sword, he knew that his opponent was a better swordsman than him from their last confrontation.

But at least, it was better than the condition of Winter's own weapon.

The saber had been snapped in half and won't be able to separate into two blades anymore because the fuller where the second blade was kept fused with the main body of the blade from the intense heat that it went through. It could still be used to fight and help direct her glyphs but it had lost so much of its effectiveness.

The fight had not even started but the False Maiden had placed them in a severe disadvantage with their weapons crippled.

Qrow didn't have anymore time to analyze their situation as he raised his sword to block a kick from the masked Huntress. The Huntress bent her knees and jumped off his blade after pulling her knife out of his weapon.

Winter launched herself towards the rogue Huntress in the air and sliced at her with her broken blade. Her weapon still retained some of its sharpness but it didn't matter as the rogue twisted her body out of the way before countering with a kick.

The Schnee raised her arms to block the kick but she was still sent hurtling towards the ground. She flipped her body over so she would land lightly on her feet in a crouch. She raised her head to sky to look for her opponent but she was nowhere to be found.

She barely registered the white rose petals before an armoured fist buried itself in her midsection, knocking the breath out of her. The Huntress was about to land another blow on the Atlas Specialist but she had to jump out of the way of Qrow's sword as it smashed into the ground where she was previously standing.

Drawing a second knife, the masked Huntress exchange blows with Qrow at rapid speed before trapping the giant blade between her two knives, putting them in a contest of strength.

The Huntress' arms began to shake as it held back Qrow's superior strength. Just when he thought that he had the upperhand, the Huntress teleported away in a burst of white rose petals, making his blade slammed into the ground.

The False Maiden reappeared on top of his sword, trapping it with her weight. The bottom of her boot then made acquaintances with his face as the former smacked into the latter with enough force to knock off the dust on him.

The layer of dust was then reapplied when he crashed into a pile of rubble. The masked Huntress whipped to the side to parry Winter's attack. While her back was turned, Qrow burst out from the rubble with his sword raised high.

Before his blade could slice into the back of her armour, the False Maiden teleported again so he clashed blades with Winter instead. Before they could pull away from their accidental deadlock, they spotted a small cylinder-like object drop to the ground where the rogue Huntress previously was.

Eyes widening, they quickly jumped back to avoid the grenade as it exploded upon impact. Instead of the explosion that they expected, the grenade split into multiple projectiles that was following their movements.

Just when he thought that the rogue Huntress was out of tricks, she pulled out another one from out of her ass. If she wasn't such a dangerous foe, he would be more pissed off than worried.

00000

If the Atlesian military thought that sending two people who fought her before increased their chance at catching her, then they made a big mistake.

Titans were weapons of mass destruction. Warlocks were masters of the arcane arts. Hunters were cunning tricksters that strike when you least expect it.

Summer didn't have the same destructive abilities as a Titan or the same mastery of the Light like Warlocks but she was an exemplary Hunter.

She didn't become one of the best by being stronger than her enemies and peers. She became one of the best because of her tactical cunning on the battlefield. After fighting an enemy once, she would analyze their strengths and weaknesses to come up with several strategies to take them down quickly and effectively.

Even the most stalwart Titans and wise Warlocks fell before her strategies.

After watching many videos of fighting tournaments, the Guardian noticed that Huntsmen and Huntress' heavily rely on their transforming weapon for versitility. But if their weapons were to somehow get damaged in battle, they would be stuck with the current form of their weapon, leaving them unable to use the other forms.

Crow was a more dangerous fighter with his scythe so Summer would have to stop him from using it. The gears where the crossguard should be was a glaring weakpoint for her to exploit. One superheated Hunter knife was enough to jam the gears and leave it stuck in its greatsword form.

Her plan to cripple whitey's weapon was actually pretty simple but it was very hard to fight with a broken blade that couldn't even split into two anymore.

Whatever strengths they had, she would cut it down and make it worthless. Whatever weakness they had, she would bring them out to bare with no mercy.

As long as she knew what her enemies were capable of, she would always find a way to defeat them through whatever means neccessary.

As she watched the Huntsman and Atlas Specialist deflect the projectiles from her skip grenade, she made her move.

Summer Rose was a Hunter and Hunters don't play by the rules if it hindered their path.


	14. It's Your Blood That's Red Like Roses

AN:

This chapter was meant to be a part of the previous one but its file was accidently deleted. I was able to recover most of it but I was too lazy to add this in again so I decided to say screw it and uploaded the next chapter anyway.

Now this part is its own chapter and is a bit shorter than the others.

00000

Chapter 14

Whitey was the trickiest to fight in Summer's opinion. She had those glyphs to manuever herself around the battlefield and to call out those white Grimm so the Guardian thought it would be best to remove her from the equation first.

Whitey and Crow deflected the last energy bolt from her skip grenade as she appeared behind the white haired woman and hit the back of her head with an electricity imbued fist. The lightning coursed through her brain and caused her to black out near instantly.

"One down," Summer said as whitey fell forward and she turned to look at her remaining opponent, "One more to go."

"Winter!" Crow cried out in alarm. Growling, he raised his sword and dashed towards her at high speed.

" _So whitey's name is Winter,"_ the Guardian mentally noted as she weaved around Crow's attacks, _"I guess this means that_ Summer _is_ _better than_ Winter. _"_

That was actually pretty good. She should write that one down in case they ever saw each other again.

A sword swing got too close for comfort but Summer parried it away with no problem. She countered with a thrust of her knife but Crow leaned his body to the side to avoid it before retaliating.

The Guardian thought she could defeat him without having to draw her sword because of his scythe being disabled but he was still no pushover with his greatsword.

It was obvious that Crow was the greater threat between him and Winter and she would have taken him out first if she could but Crow had proven to be very durable almost like a Titan so she wasn't certain if he could be knocked out by the same attack that she used on Winter.

Summer could have increased the voltage just in case but there was the risk of causing permanent damage to his brain, which was a big no-no.

She also couldn't expect him to run head first into her ship again. It took her an hour to remove the imprint of his face on the Cloud Errant's hull and she did not want to go through that a second time.

That meant she would have to take things up a notch.

The Guardian put away her knives and was about to draw her sword. Before she could remove Bolt-caster from the magnetic clasps on her back, a small fleet of Atlesian dropships appeared above them with a squads of Atlesian Knights dropping down from them.

"Ironwood, you magnificient bastard," Crow smirked wearily as the androids surrounded her. The airships and robots began to draw closer while pointing their weapons at her.

Summer thought she still had time before the authorities took notice of the battle even with a building crashing down but they got here faster than she expected.

"Uh, Guardian," Drei nervously spoke up, "I know now may not be the appropriate time to mention this but the city of Vale experienced a breach and a small Grimm invasion while you were still sleeping."

"What!" she yelled in surprise as her voice was being kept within the helmet so the people around her wouldn't hear her, "When did this happen!?"

"Let's see…about ten minutes ago," the Ghost replied.

"Why didn't you wake me up to tell me when it happened!?" she angrily demanded, "The Grimm making it inside the city is a pretty big deal! I could have helped!"

"I only found out about this now! I was too busy extracting data from an uncooperative Mind core! Besides, they managed to drive away the Grimm and seal the breach just fine on their own."

"Fine, it doesn't matter now," the Guardian sighed, ignoring the soldiers demanding her surrender, "Can you hack into the androids?"

"I can but unfortunately, not all of them at once," the Ghost said as Crow aimed the tip of his sword at her, "The Atlesian military wised up and upgraded their firewalls. If you want me to take control of every android, I would have to gain access to the control center."

"This is your last chance to give up," Crow warned her in a grave tone, "I suggest you take it."

"Let me guess," she privately said to her Ghost as she lifted her head to see one of those titanic Atlesian airships floating in the sky, "It's in one of those big ships there."

"Correct."

"Meh, I can still handle this," she shrugged before raising her hands as if she was cooperating.

The AK-200s lowered their rifles and slowly approached her like she was no longer a threat.

If they were smart, her enemies wouldn't let their guards down against a Guardian like her. A surrender also shouldn't be enough to forget how dangerous a cornered Hunter could be.

But the only smart one here was Crow.

"Wait, stop!" the scruffy Huntsman tried to warn the robots but it was already too late.

Summer drew Bolt-caster in a flash and sent discs made up of electricity at the AK-200s around her. The initial explosion of the discs destroyed handfuls of androids and then the electricity spread over the remaining ones, short circuiting them.

Raising her sword to activate the Arc shield, she pulled out Thorn in her free hand and shot the guns off of the dropships in front of her while blocking the barrage of gunfire from the other ships behind her.

The Guardian spun on her heel into a crouch to make herself a smaller target as she reloaded and then destroyed the guns on the rest of the dropships.

"I am so awesome," she proudly declared as Crow stared at her with his mouth wide open. Twirling Thorn, she placed the black hand cannon back in its holster as the Huntsman regained his senses.

Crow hurled himself forward with so much strength that he left a crater where he launched himself from. Summer twisted her body away from his sword in such a way that it seemed the barest milimeters between cloth and steel. As she finished her spin, her own sword sliced through the cloth on her opponent's back.

Even though his Aura protected him from the brunt of the damage, the man stumbled from the blow on his back. Summer didn't give him the chance to recover as she Blinked to his side and swung her sword at him.

He was still able to bring his own weapon up to block her strike but she Blinked to his other side and sliced at his waist. He was sent staggering back before the Guardian teleported beside him to strike at him once more.

In desperation, he raised his sword to parry her attack but with his uneven footing, he was sent crashing into the wall of an adjacent building. The Guardian pulled out a knife and threw it at the Huntsman's prone form.

"Gaaah!" he cried out in pain as the small blade pierced him through the right shoulder and pinned him to the wall. He tried to raise his other hand to pull out the knife but another knife stabbed into the concrete behind him. Thankfully, it pinned him by the left sleeve instead of impaling his arm.

Crow tried to pull his arm free but Summer grabbed him by the face and slammed the back of his head against the wall, cracking the concrete. She then placed Bolt-caster against his throat.

"This better be the last time we fight," she told him with a hint of warning as her eyes began to glow ominously, "Or else I won't be so merciful next time."

"Get away from him!" a young female voice yelled out to her.

Summer turned to look for the one who shouted but was interrupted from a loud bang that usually came from a sniper rifle. Bolt-caster was pulled away from the man's throat and deflected the high caliber round.

The Guardian jumped away from the pinned Huntsman as several more bangs followed suit. Her sword came up to repel more high caliber rounds while she looked for the sniper.

She saw a red blur heading her way with a scythe similar to Crow's except it was more red than black.

Summer lowered her sword a bit to get a proper glimpse of her latest attacker and froze at the sight of her.

It wasn't her attacker's youthful appearance that grabbed her attention. It was her round face, silver eyes and reddish black hair that made her tense uncontrollably.

Summer may not know the person but she definitely knew that face. After all, it was the same face that Summer saw whenever she looked in a mirror.

And the young girl with her face was heading right towards her, giant scythe reared back to strike.

Even though Summer could have easily evaded or stopped the attack in its tracks, she made no move to do any of that because her entire being was trapped in a state of shock. Bolt-caster slipped out of her hand since her fingers were too numb to even hold them. She didn't even try to dodge the bullets coming from the girl's scythe as her body shook with each precise hit.

The Guardian's shields had already been depleted enough for the curved blade of the girl's scythe to burrowed itself deep into her chest with the tip bursting out of her back.

The girl's silver eyes widened in shock and horror at what she had done as she quickly pulled out her blade with a wet slick.

The blade of the scythe was apparently the only thing keeping Summer up as she fell to her knees. The girl missed her heart by an inch but the wound was too severe for her Light to heal so she was still going to die.

But the Guardian didn't care about that at all.

All she cared about was…

"Why…" Summer managed to cough out before hands reached to her head to take off her helmet. Order's Mask fell to the ground beside her as blood began to pool around her, "Do you…look so much…like me?"

"Mom?"

00000

AN:

Because I'm an evil bastard, I'm just gonna leave this right here.

To AK74FU2: How do you like my twist?


	15. No Matter What I Do

AN:

I've been getting a lot of comments from reviewers on how they couldn't wait for the family reunion. It was really annoying so I came up with a way to both give them what they want and to spite them.

I originally planned for a more lighthearted reunion but because of those people, you got Ruby impaling her own mother.

00000

Chapter 15

 _No no no no no no._

Crescent Rose fell to the ground as its wielder, Ruby Rose lost her grip on it. The sniper-scythe hybrid was stained with the blood of its latest victim as the blood dripped to the ground.

The young leader of Team RWBY didn't care that she might have damaged her weapon. All that she had her eyes on was the person that she had impaled on her scythe.

There before her was a woman in a white cloak that was slowly becoming red like her own. The woman had silver eyes and reddish black hair like her. She could have been the spitting image of Ruby but it was obvious that it was the other way around.

Because the person before her, the woman with a bloody gaping hole in her chest that Ruby had inflicted upon her, was none other than her mother, Summer Rose.

"Mom?" Ruby's voice came out in a soft whisper. She just couldn't believe it. There was no way that the person kneeling before her was her mother. Her mother had been dead for years, right?

"Why…" the woman that looked so much like her mother asked one more time as she stared at Ruby with her silver eyes looking so lost like she couldn't believe what was happening. Like she couldn't believe what Ruby did to her.

"No, this can't be happening," Ruby tried to tell herself as she unconsciously took a step back, "This is all just a bad dream. I'm gonna wake up any minute now, right? Right?"

"RIGHT!?" the young girl shrieked franticly as tears began to well up in her eyes. She looked to her uncle, who was still pinned to the wall, for confirmation but all she saw was the abject shock and recognition as he stared at the dying woman in disbelief.

But what was most damning was the words that came out of her Uncle Qrow's mouth.

"Oh my god, it's _her_. It was actually _her_ this whole time…"

The young Rose didn't need to guess what her uncle meant when he said _her_.

Her mother was here. That woman was the real deal and not some kind of imposter. She had wished so many times that she would get to see her mother again for at least one more time and now, her wish came true.

And she just killed her own mother.

She fell to her knees. The tears that she was holding back came flowing out as she screamed at the realization of what she had done.

With all of her being, Ruby wanted to take back her wish so badly. If she knew that bearing the sin of killing her mother was the price for her wish, then she would have never made the wish in the first place.

Hugging herself tightly, Ruby cried out as Qrow pulled his arm free, ripping his sleeve in the process. The Huntsman grabbed the hilt of the knife and none too gently tore it out of his shoulder. He dropped down to one knee as Summer Rose fell forward.

This seemed to break the young girl out of her grief for a moment as she rushed forward with her Semblance to catch the older woman in her arms. Not caring about the blood staining her own clothes, Ruby buried her face into her mother's shoulder and sobbed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she said over and over as if saying those words would be enough to take back what she did, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Being held in the young girl's arms, Summer's eyes widened as the vision of the red hooded girl came to the forefront of her mind. Unlike the other times that she had that vision, the red hood fell back to reveal a younger and more innocent version of her face.

With herculean effort, the older Rose pulled herself back a bit to get a better view of the girl's face. Her gauntlet cladded hand slowly lifted up and cupped the girl's cheek, making her pause in her crying.

"I…know you. Ru…by," Summer said to her before the life faded from her eyes. The hand cupping Ruby's cheek fell back to the ground and left a bloody handprint on the girl's face.

"Mom?" she asked in confusion as her mother's weight leaned against her. She didn't notice Qrow limping his way to them. She still didn't register his presence even when he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Ruby didn't even realize that the rest of her teammates arrived at the scene, their own expressions full of shock and horror.

"Mom?" she said again as she tried to stir her mother awake but her mother remained unresponsive.

"Ruby, she's gone," the former member of Team STRQ said. The word 'again' was left unsaid like the phrase 'because you killed her'.

Ruby's silver eyes widened in anguish and more tears poured out from them. She tightened her arms around her mother's dead body and she suddenly threw her head back as she began to levitate slightly off the ground. Brilliant white light flowed out of her eyes as she screamed.

"MOOOOOOM!"

White light enveloped her, spreading out to her mother and uncle.

"Ruby!" Qrow yelled out as he tried to reach for the young girl but he was being pushed back by the burst of light.

The explosion of light then flowed out from her eyes and into a small cube like object. The object seemed to soak in the light like a sponge and kept going at it. The energy coming out of Ruby's eyes began to slowly weaken until it came to a stop. The strange object had absorbed all of the energy by then.

"Well, that was unexpected," the object spoke to the surprise of the spectators as it stared at Ruby and Summer with its one eye, "If I didn't know any better, I would have mistaken you for a Guardian like Guardian Rose."

Ruby was too disoriented to ask how the thing knew her mother but Qrow apparently wasn't as his hand grabbed onto the top of its casing.

"What the hell are you?" Qrow demanded angrily as his fingers tightened their grip on its surprisingly tough shell, "More importantly, how do you know Summer?"

"How do _you_ know her?" the thing snippily retorted as it phased out of his hand, " _You're_ the one who tried to kill her after all."

"Now if you'll excuse me," the strange tiny being said as it turned back to the dead woman, "I have a resurrection to prepare."

Before the man could demand what it meant by 'resurrection', a golden beam of light burst out of its eye and right into the deceased Huntress.

Thinking it was an attack, Qrow swung his damaged sword at the confirmed hostile being. He was surprised to see his attack was repelled away with the swing of a single edged blade. The blade swung once more and knocked his weapon out of his hand before the tip of the blade was pressed against his Adam's Apple.

The veteran Huntsman wasn't shocked by the fact that he was disarmed so easily but he was beyong shakened up by the person who was currently holding a sword to his throat.

"Try to touch him again and I'll cut your freaking head off," Summer Rose sent a lethal glare his way from her own glowing eyes as her blade pulled away from his throat but not before leaving a long shallow cut under his jaw.

"What the hell?" Qrow uttered in complete disbelief. It hadn't been five minutes since he watched his former leader die by her own daughter's blade and now she was threatening him like it didn't just happened.

There was something that he couldn't wrap his head around.

Even when she looked him straight in the eye, there was no sign that his former team leader recognized him. It was impossible. They have known each other for years. There was no way that she could look at him like she didn't…

He stopped as he came to a realization.

" _She doesn't remember,"_ he thought, remembering when Summer asked her own daughter why the girl looked like her.

There was another thing that he realized just now.

If Summer was the False Maiden, then why didn't the powers return to their rightful wielder when she died. There should have been a sign yet nothing happened.

What the hell was going on?

00000

Summer sheathed Bolt-caster with a twirl. She held up a hand and allowed her Arc energy to dance around her palm. The Arc energy dissipated into Solar as flames hot as the sun swirled between her fingers before they gathered together and disappeared into a ball of Void.

The Guardian closed her hand over the ball of Void, causing it to disperse with a small boom. She stared at her clenched fist in contemplation.

This was far from her first revival but this one was different. Summer may not be entirely aware of what was going on while she was dead but she could still sense that powerful surge of Light, which Drei had used to resurrect her so her Light reserves were at maximum capacity.

If she didn't know any better, she would have thought another Guardian provided her with their Light to revive her.

Summer turned to stare at the girl who looked so much like her. The girl's name was Ruby. She wasn't certain how she knew that or what was the exact connection that she had to her but there was no denying that this was someone very dear to her.

Ruby gazed at her in disbelief with her body and face still covered with the Guardian's blood. Summer was about to inquire as to who the girl was but the girl propelled herself towards the female Hunter with a burst of red rose petals.

Summer barely had time to brace herself as the red hooded girl slammed into her form with the force of a cannonball. Luckily, her shields succeeded in absorbing the impact.

"Mom, you're okay!" the young girl shouted, burying her face into Summer's chest and hugging her so tightly that she would have suffocated the Guardian if she still needed to breathe. The girl was too caught up with the Guardian being alive again that she didn't notice how the Hunter had been frozen stiff by the girl's words.

"Mom?" Summer muttered as the revelation hit her right in the face like a Hammer of Sol.

The girl hugging her was her daughter.

When did this happen? _How_ did this happen? As far as Summer knew, Guardians were infertile and thus they couldn't have kids naturally. Hell, she didn't even know where children came from!

"Agh!" Summer suddenly cried out in pain as she Blinked out of the girl's hug. Her hands gripped the sides of her head as she tried to push into the deadspace that was her past life but to no avail. She recoiled in a shock of mental pain as memories of what appeared to be hers painfully resurfaced for a brief moment before abruptly slipping out of her grasp, leaving her more confused than ever.

"You're my- agh!" she tried to say but her mind felt like it was being shoved into a blender, "I'm your- agh!"

"Guardian, calm down!" her Ghost called out to her but she couldn't bare to listen not when it felt like bombs were going off inside her head over and over again, "If you don't, I'll be forced to use drastic measures!"

Her screams of pain continued as her form was wreathed in Solar flames, forcing everyone but her Ghost to stay back. The young girl, Ruby still tried to reach out to her but the man held her back and prevented her from doing so.

"Alright, you made me do thiiiiis!" Drei yelled as he charged at his Guardian with reckless abandon. His tiny form slammed into her forehead with a painful crack and knocked her flat on her back. The flames surrounding her died out as her consciousness slipped away.

Guardians could still be knocked out with blunt force trauma to the head, which was another reason why they wear helmets.

"Wait," the Ghost realized something as he hovered shakily over his catatonic Guardian, "Why didn't I just use the Cloud Errant to knock her out?"

The Jumpship was more than able to withstand the heat of Summer's Solar powers and its hull was tough enough to provide enough blunt force trauma to render her unconscious. It was able to knock out that scythe wielding Huntsman after all.

"By the Traveler, I'm becoming just as impulsive as her!" Drei shouted in horror and realization.

The creation of the Traveler would have panicked even more at the thought of becoming like his Guardian if he wasn't suddenly pulled by an unseen force.

He then came face to face with a woman with short blonde hair and a stern gaze that would have made lesser beings bow. It still didn't come close to Ikora Rey though so the Ghost wasn't as frightened as she hoped that he would be.

"I don't know what you are but you seem to be the source of what happened to Summer Rose, " the woman said evenly, eyes narrowing as she pushed up her glasses, "So you will tell me what you are and what you did to one of our most respected Huntress or I will forcibly tear open that shell of yours."

"Isn't it obvious?" Drei said, unconcerned, "I resurrected her."

"Preposterous," she huffed, her tone becoming even more severe, "You cannot resurrect the dead. It is simply impossible."

"The impossible is merely a goal that has yet to be reached," he replied, "Besides, you witnessed her being impaled in the chest, a very fatal wound I might add, and then die shortly afterwards only to recover from it like nothing of the sort occurred."

"How do you explain that?" Drei challenged, "Dust, Aura, Semblance?"

The stern look on the woman's face began to falter as she attempted to come up with a reasonable explanation for Summer Rose's death and subsequent revival but she couldn't find one that made sense.

"That's what I thought," he said as the invisible grip on his small body loosened, which he then broke free from.

"I am willing to answer any questions you may have but I would rather we do it in a more…" he Ghost trailed off as he eyed the many people watching and the cameras that no doubt recorded everything, "Private location."

The woman glanced around her, seeing the same things that he did. She turned back to him with a deep frown.

"Very well," she conceded, "I will call for a team to escort you two away from here."

"Thank you very much, Miss…"

"Goodwitch, Glynda Goodwitch."

00000

It had been hours since the revelation of the rogue Huntress' identity and people were still talking about the reveal and discussing their theories. Some thought Summer Rose faked her death and went rogue for all of these years while others believed that the Atlesian military kidnapped her and experimented on her, which was why she seemed to have more than one Semblance. There was even a theory that involved aliens or something.

They didn't know how much that last one held the truth to it.

The theories didn't really have strong evidence to back it up but there was one thing that everyone had witnessed and agreed on what had occurred.

They all saw Summer Rose die once more only to then revive from it.

Huntsmen and Huntresses were symbols of hope and valor to the people but they were just as mortal as everyone else. Then there came a Huntress who was capable of coming back from the dead as if the concept of death had no permanent meaning to her.

Witnessing the death and resurrection of Summer Rose set off a whole chain of debates on what this meant and how it would affect everything that they knew. Was it just a one-time thing or could Summer Rose be truly immortal now that she didn't stay dead? Was she the only one who could do that or could it be passed on to others?

Regardless of the side of the discussion, they all agreed on one thing: Summer Rose was back and she was better than ever.

As for the person in question, she was now being held within the Atlesian flagship and was in Atlas military custody like a certain master thief.

And she was confused as hell.

"Drei, what happened earlier?" Summer asked as she sat in her small and bare cell.

The Guardian could have easily broken out of her cell and escape but she couldn't be bothered to do so. Her weapons had been confiscated but Drei simply transported them back to his data storage so she could still bring them out if she needed to.

"Who was that girl and why did she call me mom?" she continued, putting a hand to her forehead. She wasn't getting intense headaches like earlier as she struggled to remember her past life but she was barely getting anything besides a name.

Ruby.

Before she could ponder anymore on that, the door to her cell opened and two men entered the cell. She immediately assessed how much of a threat they were and how to take them down if need be.

The black haired man in the white uniform was the most tense of the two and glared at her as if that was enough to cow her (it wasn't even close to enough) while the silver haired man in the black and green suit had an outwardly calm but she saw the way his eyes watched her every movement like a hawk.

The Guardian could probably take them by surprise even though they knew of what she can do. They still thought that she didn't have any weapons on her person and wouldn't think she had grenade hidden in her hand.

Their mistake would be her benefit.

"Summer Rose, we believed you were dead for some time now until you infiltrated one of my facilities and stole several military property," the man said, no doubt a high ranking officer of the Atlesian army.

"Just so you know, I'm not giving them back," Summer replied, giving the man a blank look.

She had used most of the stolen goods to repair the Cloud Errant and she wasn't going to dismantle it to return them. Not after the weeks of fixing the jumpship with no food or sleep while fending of hordes of Grimm.

She had also pawned off most of the Dust that she acquired for more money after spending the last of Junior and his men's money on all of those sweets, which she then finished all of it in one go.

"I don't think you understand your current situation," the general said in a low tone.

The Guardian called out her Ghost in her free hand and had him project a hologram of the Vex fleet, which made the Atlesian fleet outside look like ants in comparison.

"Do you?" she countered, secretly enjoying the looks of fear on the two men's faces.


	16. Nothing Ever Takes The Place of You

AN:

In case anyone was wondering what kind of Ghost shell that Drei is using, he's just using the basic/white one to match Summer's color scheme.

00000

Chapter 16

The return of Summer Rose did not bode well for the one known as Cinder Fall. Especially when the thought to have been deceased Huntress displayed powers very similar to that of a Maiden. Even without those abilities, the White Rose had shown that she was a very dangerous combatant aftering handily defeating Qrow Branwen and whatever the Atlesian military threw at her.

If that wasn't enough, Summer Rose was apparently immortal.

Yes, Cinder had definitely seen the videos. You would be hard pressed to find anyone on Remnant who hadn't at least heard of it.

The video showed the White Rose being fatally impaled in the chest by her own daughter no less but the Huntress didn't stay dead for long and in a flash of light, she stood there like nothing happened.

There were so many questions that needed to be answered. Like how did Summer Rose achieve that kind of power? Where had she been all of this time? How did she become immortal? And most importantly of all, how can Cinder take that immortality from the Huntress and use it for her own?

Someone who wielded the Maiden-like abilities and could easily defeat foes like the infamous Black Reaper was not to be taken lightly.

The False Maiden would have to discuss the matter with her master. Surely a being as ancient as Salem would have the knowledge on how to deal with such a wild card.

00000

Team RWBY and Zwei were sitting on the edge of Beacon's landing platform, overlooking the City of Vale from across the lake. The young leader was being hugged tightly in the arms of her older sister while periodically muttering to herself phrases like "She's alive", "I killed her", "She doesn't remember me".

"Ssh, ssh, it's okay," Yang tried to console her younger sister but there was not much she could do to help the girl with how hollow her words sounded.

After all, what can you say to someone who accidently killed their own mother?

After her mother was escorted away by the Atlesian military, Ruby was in a state of shock and would not respond to any outside stimuli. Yang had to physically carry the young leader since the blonde girl was the only one strong enough amongst them to lift her younger sister while still being gentle in her handling of the girl.

Ruby continued to remain unresponsive until they finally made it back to Beacon where she broke down into a crying fit once more. Yang immediately set her down and started to confort her as best as she could but the red hooded girl had yet to stop.

The rest of Team RWBY wanted to help their young leader but they knew that the yellow dragon was the better choice among them so they helplessly watched their once lively friend break down into tears and sobs.

Unlike the rest of Team RWBY, Yang was partially aware of her return or at least someone that resembled her after meeting with Junior but she refrained from telling her teammates especially Ruby.

It wouldn't do to give her younger sister false hope that her mother was alive.

The only ones that did know of it were Neptune Vasilias and Blake Belladonna. The former knew because he was there when she got the information but the tanned skinned boy didn't understand the full details while the latter knew because Yang told her when the cat Faunus was pushing herself too hard and was barely getting any sleep.

Yang Xiao Long had searched for Summer Rose on her own but came up with nothing. It was like trying to find her biological mother all over again.

But this time, she actually found who she was looking for.

Yang was stunned by the sight of Summer Rose lying dead in her sister's arms. Seeing her precious little sister kill her own mother, she thought it would have been better if the woman had stayed hidden. That way, Ruby wouldn't have to go through so much pain.

A part of Yang felt a burning rage at Summer Rose for causing so much pain to her sister even though it was by accident. That part felt a dark satisfaction at the woman's death but Yang instantly became disgusted by that thought as she watched her sister mourn their mother once again.

She must be a terrible person if she could receive pleasure from her sister's suffering. At the time, she didn't feel worthy to run up to the deceased Summer Rose and grieve over her with Ruby so her feet refused to step closer in spite of how much she wanted to.

Another part of Yang felt relief and confusion when Summer Rose came back to life. She saw the woman was dead so there was no way she could recover from that but Summer Rose did. It seemed that whatever happened to Summer Rose came at a heavy cost.

Summer Rose had amnesia.

The Huntress didn't recognize their Uncle Qrow who was her teammate back in Team STRQ. She didn't even recognize Ruby without undergoing a violent reaction.

So many questions plagued her mind like the rest of her team.

How does Summer have multiple semblances? How did she come back from the dead? Where has she been this whole time?

Most importantly of all, what was that unfathomable level of silver light that came out of Ruby?

00000

The silver haired man in the green suit introduced himself as Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy while the black haired man in the white uniform introduced himself as James Ironwood, general of the Atlesian military and Headmaster of Atlas Academy.

It was more like a reintroduction since they apparently knew Summer before she died. Their names and faces did seem a bit familiar but she did not regain any memories whatsoever of them. They might as well be strangers with what little memories that she had of them.

"So where do you want me to start first?" Summer asked as she leaned back on her seat and placed her feet on the table.

They had escorted her from her cell to some kind of war room on the ship. It had a big table that doubled as a hologram projector with several chairs around it. It looked like a really toned down version of the war room in the Hall of Guardians back on Earth.

It was appropriate if you consider what Remnant was about to face.

"What happened to you, Summer?" Ozpin spoke up first, making her a bit uncomfortable with how friendly he was being to her, "How did you gain your new abilities?"

"I died," Summer shrugged, making the general's brow twitched in annoyance, "And I was brought back to life by an alien space god."

The man would have dismissed such a farfetched statement but he definitely saw Summer Rose come back to life. He still didn't believe the part about the alien space god at all.

It also didn't help that the once polite and respectable Summer Rose that he knew and liked was replaced by this more laidback and cheeky one. It was like she became another Qrow.

"Miss Rose, please take this seriously," Ozpin said, taking note of his friend's frustration, "Now is not the time for jokes."

Summer removed her feet from the table and sat up straighter while giving the two men a stone cold look that made them tense up in alarm.

"Who said I was?"

It appeared there was still some part of the woman that they knew before in the Guardian.

"I think it would be better if I explain," her Ghost materialized before her as he projected a hologram of the planet, Remnant, "As you've no doubt know, this is a remnant of a forgotten world."

The two denizens of Remnant were awed by the accurate depiction of their planet since no one had yet to see their planet from space with Dust losing power once it left the atmosphere.

"Or more like this planet is a remnant of forgotten _worlds_ ," he said as he projected more planets that were definitely not Remnant.

Some were far larger than Remnant while some were either about the same size or smaller in size. Some of those planets had more than one moon while others didn't have a moon at all.

"Gentlemen, let me educate you on the history of humanity that came even _before_ Remnant," Drei said, "Let me tell you about the Golden Age of humanity."

00000

As her Ghost patiently explained to the two enraptured men of the greatness of the Traveler and the Golden Age of mankind, Summer took this opportunity to observe the men since she had heard the story plenty of times by now.

The Guardian noticed a white intricately designed hand cannon within the general's coat. It was like the polar opposite of Thorn's black and more jagged appearance.

The general also wore a glove on his right hand hand while the other remained bare. Unless he was one of those weirdos who thought only wearing one glove was cool, there must be a purpose to that glove. As they took her to the war room, Summer thought she heard the brief sound of pistons whirring when the general moved his right arm.

Either the general was secretly a robot or he had a cybernetic arm.

Either way, the Guardian could immobilize him with enough Arc energy even if he had installed several functions to protect him from electricity. Arc was not ordinary electricity and it would take more than insulative materials to defend from it.

Professor Ozpin was more of an enigma than his comrade.

The man wasn't so easily spooked. He did express some surprise and awe from the things that Drei showed them but he quickly schooled his expressions into a more stoic one. If Summer wasn't so vigilant, she would have missed it.

Considering Remnant's love for mecha-shifting weapons, the cane that Ozpin always carried was certainly a weapon. The way his fingers subtly clench around the handle whenever she did something remotely threatening and how he appeared to walk just fine without it clued her in to the true nature of the item.

The Guardian wasn't sure how she would fare against the silver haired man but her instincts were telling her not to take that man lightly.

There wasn't really a need to analyzed these men since they were going to be her allies against the Vex but one may never know if they were going to face someone that was thought to be an ally in combat. If that did happen, she was going to be prepared.

It also took her mind off of a certain girl in a red hood.

Summer was in the midst of planning several scenarios of confrontations with her against the general and headmaster when Drei finished his story.

Their reactions were somewhat expected.

At first, they were amazed, shocked and then skeptical when they learned that humanity had managed to colonize almost a dozen planets, including Remnant and the enemies that almost led mankind to extinction until Drei provided them with undeniable proof that no one could refute as fake.

The Ghost had showed them recordings of her adventures across the Sol system. They watched her traverse ruins and places that were definitely not from Remnant and battle against beings of Darkness that were more terrifying than the Grimm.

"This…" Ozpin tried to find the right words for everything that they had learned, "Is a lot to process."

"Yes. Yes, it is," Ironwood agreed with his friend before turning to her with a stern gaze, "But what I don't understand is how you found yourself on this… 'Earth'?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she simply said, shrugging, "I have very little memories of Remnant even with my first death."

"So you truly did die," the silver haired man murmured under his breath, "Is it possible that you accidently stumbled upon the other side of this 'Gateway' before you died?"

"Again, the exact details of my death are very blurry since I was probably half out of my mind from severe blood loss," she explained calmly as if she was talking about the weather and not of her own death, "You actually know more about it than I do."

"I was afraid of that," Ozpin sighed, "Your last…mission took place deep within the Grimmland, which is largely unexplored and uncharted. It would take months to find the exact location of where you died."

"And we might not have months," Ironwood said grimly, "We don't know when or where the Vex would attack next. For all we know, it could be occuring this very instant."

As the last word left the general's mouth, the entire ship violently shook, knocking them off their chairs in the process. They managed to land smoothly on their feet but the ship still continued to shake as if they were under fire.

James Ironwood pulled out his Scroll and angrily demanded, "What's happening out there! Status Report!"

"Sir, we're under attack!" the voice on the other end said urgently.

"By what! I thought we cleared the city of Grimm!"

"It's not the Grimm, sir! It's-it's some kind of giant robo-aaaggghhh!" the man on the other end screamed in agony before the line suddenly cut off.

Ironwood gritted his teeth and pressed a button on his Scroll. The black wall behind them began flickering, that it was in fact a window to the outside. What the two men saw through the window wasn't like anything they had every seen in their entire career as Huntsmen but for Summer, it was a sight that she had long grown accustomed to.

A swarm of Harpy units so vast that it nearly blanketed the sky with their small forms. They surrounded the Atlesian fighter ships and assailed them with Solar bolts until they came crashing down from the sky. The massive Atlesian airships could have handled the Harpies quickly but they were kept preoccupied by three Hydra units that bombarded the giant ships with Void bolts.

The Hydras were small enough to manuever around the Atlesian fleet's return fire but they had enough firepower to whittle down the larger ships in minutes.

If that wasn't enough, the Hydras appeared to be dropping off Goblin and Minotaur units onto the ground before continuing their assault.

Thank the Traveler that none of the Hydras were Mind units.

"It's the Vex. You just had to jinx us, didn't you, Jimmy?" Summer said to Ironwood before Order's Mask covered her head. She ran towards the window as Thorn materialized in her hand.

She raised the black hand cannon and fired at the window. Black dart-like bullets that were almost as big as the gun itself embedded into the reinforced glass and black lines began to spread across the surface like veins.

Lowering her gun, Summer's shoulder crashed into the weakened window with enough force to break through as she fell off the ship. Freefalling throught the air, she reloaded Thorn and shot down several Harpies.

Putting Thorn away, the Guardian threw her hand out and caught herself on a Harpy in its flight mode. She pulled out a knife and stabbed it into its single red optical before it could open up its casing to throw her off.

As it died, she pulled herself up, jumped off the Vex unit and landed on top of another Harpy, which she then killed with her knife. Summer repeated this for a few more times before several Harpies had the sense to stay out of grabbing and Blink distance from her.

Even though she had no more makeshift stepping stones, Summer was perfectly calm. She was simply stalling for time after all.

The Cloud Errant swooped in to catch her as she landed on top of the jumpship. Without another word, the Guardian phased to the inside of the ship and into the pilot's chair.

"Drei, give me a sitrep," Summer ordered as she took control of the Cloud Errant and started to shoot down Harpy units by the droves with its cannons.

"The flying Vex units are surrounding the Atlesian fleet while Goblins and Minotaurs are scouring the streets," the Ghost informed her, "They appear to be looking for us."

"They must really want me dead for good," the Guardian mused as she flew towards one of the Hydras.

"Drei, take the wheel. I'm going to take out those Hydras," she got up from her seat before teleporting to the top of the Cloud Errant's hull.

Her white cape flapped behind the Guardian as she was buffeted by the violent winds. Flames wreathed her form as she tapped into the pool of Solar energy and brought out the Golden Gun of the Gunslinger. Instead of the traditional hand cannon, the Golden Gun took the form of the rocket launcher, Gjallahorn.

This was her modified version of the Golden Gun. She called it the Golden Gjallahorn. It fired pure explosive plasma bolts that were likened to miniature supernovas. It had the same destructive power as the Sunbreakers' Hammer of Sol but there was a drawback. It could only fire one round before dissipitating. If she tried to push it any further, she would be in danger of the Golden Gjallahorn backfiring on her.

Summer rested the fire construct on her shoulder as she aimed down the sights at one of the Hydras. She pulled out several small red Dust crystals in her free hand and then crushed them within her grip. A raging inferno burst out of the destroyed Dust crystals before the flames flowed into the Golden Gjallahorn, causing it to glow even hotter if that was possible.

After amplifying the Golden Gjallahorn with fire Dust, she squeezed the trigger. She felt a fourth of her shields be depleted from the recoil of the Golden Gjallahorn as a bolt of plasma that was half the size of her body surged out of the fire construct before the Golden Gun dispersed into embers.

The Guardian braced herself against the ship as the plasma bolt slammed into the Hydra that she targeted. The plasma bolt burrowed into the Hydra's armour before blowing it apart from the inside with a glorious supernova like explosion that also completely wiped out any nearby Vex unit and scorched the side of the titanic Atlesian airship.

She wasn't fully prepared for the aftermath of the Dust augmented Golden Gjallahorn as the resulting shockwave knocked her off the Cloud Errant and into a small horde of Harpies. Her lightly armoured body crashed into the small Vex units and had received a collection of bruises that were already being healed by her Light.

Luckily for her, crashing into the Harpies broke her fall and allowed her to recover quickly. Once more, she used the Harpies as literal stepping stones as she made her way to the second Hydra.

"Distract the other Hydra while I deal with this one," Summer ordered the Ghost through the comms as she neared the second Hydra.

The cybernetic centipede seemed to have noticed her approach and instantly turned its focus onto her. It began to fire Void bolts at her in an attempt to stop her from getting closer. The Vex must surely know that close range combat was her preference and it was practically a death sentence to engage her in it so it was taking measures to stop her.

That just wouldn't do.

"It's time to fight Void with Void," Summer said as she pulled out a gravity Dust crystal and crushed it into powder. The energy of the Dust flowed into her and caused the power of Void within her to stir.

A bow of pure Void energy formed in her left hand. Her other hand pulled the thin string of Light back as an arrow of Void materialized on the bow. She let loose the Shadowshot and it hit the Hydra like a Cabal body slam before trapping it within a Void Anchor.

It usually took a while for the Guardian's Light to realign its attunement among Arc, Solar and Void especially when she was switching between super abilities but with the aid of Dust, she could cut down the time it took to charge her super abilities and for her Light to reattune itself.

Taking a leaf out of Remnant's book, Summer drew Patience and Time and postioned the sniper rifle to aim behind and under her before firing it. Using the recoil of her gun, she propelled herself towards the trapped Hydra. Once she reached the giant Vex unit, she swapped PT for Bolt-caster and promptly sliced its head off.

Summer quickly twisted her body around and raised Bolt-caster to block the ensuing explosion of Void with the Arc shield. Due to not having a stable footing or any footing at all for that matter, she was still sent flying from the blast.

A fall from this height would certainly kill her and she was having a bit of trouble finding a way out of it. The Cloud Errant was too far away to catch her and the explosion also blew away every nearby Harpy so she couldn't use those either.

Before she could come up with anymore landing strategies, the Guardian went through the open door of one of the Atlesian dropships and landed on her back inside it much to both her and the other occupants' surprise.

"Hey, Team CFVY! How are you guys doing?" Summer greeted jovially while still laying on her back as she recognized the young students right away, "Did you get my flowers?"

"We could be better!" the leader of Team CFVY yelled over the sound of her gatling gun firing and Harpies exploding, "And yes, the expensive flowers were a very nice gesture! Although, I don't think the words: 'Get well soon' and a smiley face on the attached note properly express your sincere apology for electrocuting us!"

"That's nice!" the Guardian yelled back as she pushed herself to her feet, "Now I would love to stay and chat but I have some Vex that I need to kill!"

Before any of Team CFVY could reply, Summer threw herself off the dropship and grabbed onto a Harpy that was about to zoom past the Remnant aircraft.

She was able to travel a good amount of distance until she spotted her jumpship assaulting the last Hydra with cannon fire. Drei must have spotted her as well as the Cloud Errant broke off from its attack and went straight for her.

The Guardian stabbed the Harpy in its eye before letting go of it. Fortunately, she didn't fall for too long as she teleported to the inside of her ship. She took a moment to settle herself. She wasn't tired in the least but it was very disorienting to keep jumping from one place to another with time to rest on a somewhat stable foothold.

After taking a moment to regain her equilibrium, Summer reached into the armory on her ship and pulled out the actual Gjallahorn that she kept hidden away on her ship.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, baby?" she purred as she affectionately stroke the barrel of the rocket launcher, "Are you ready to blow shit up? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!"

"Um Guardian?" the Ghost hesitantly spoke up, slightly uncomfortable with his Guardian's behavior, "The Vex invasion?"

"Huh?" Summer snapped out of her reverie before lightly punching the side of her head while resting the rocket launcher on her shoulder, "Oh right!"

Not wanting the Guardian to be caught up with admiring the Gjallahorn again, Drei quickly teleported to the top of the Cloud Errant. The Hunter got down to one knee and fired a rocket at the last Hydra. The rocket detonated on the Hydra's side before it split into a cluster of more missiles that dealt more damage to the heavy Vex unit.

This was why the Gjallahorn was one of her favorite weapons.

After a few more rounds from the beautifully crafted rocket launcher, the Hydra fell to the earth before it died in one last explosion.

With the Hydras dead, the Atlesian airfleet was now able to properly counterattack the Vex. Since the Atlesian had the air under control, the only thing left that they had to worry about was the Vex units on the ground.

"Guardian, the Vex ground forces are converging towards Beacon Academy," the Ghost told her as she went back inside the ship, "They appear to have a certain target in mi-"

"The Vex are after your daughter!" Drei exclaimed in alarm, making her blood run cold.

Daughter.

Summer still didn't believe it even when the Ghost confirmed it through a quick scan of the girl while absorbing her Light. Many of her fellow Guardians compared her to a child so it must have been a mistake for her to have a daughter. There was no way that someone as immature and irresponsible as her was suited to be a parent let alone to a teenager.

But there was no denying the crippling fear that almost consumed her entire being at the thought of the young girl named Ruby in danger. The fear was then set aside for something just as dangerous.

"Drei, take me to Beacon," she said in an unnaturally calm tone that sent shivers up the Ghost's metaphorical spine, "Now."

"R-right away, Guardian," he stammered in dread as he complied as fast as he could.

The Ghost almost felt sorry for the Vex. Intentionally or not, they just made Summer Rose angry.


	17. The Last Rose of Summer

AN:

With what happened in the last chapter, RWBY canon had been officially changed.

00000

Chapter 17

A woman surveyed the barren wasteland before her in deep contemplation. The sky was a painting of crimson and shadow with the broken moon in the distance. Purple crystals and rocks with black veins filled the landscape that finished the image of the hellish land.

Creatures of Darkness in various shapes and sizes roamed the land but these creatures posed no threat to the woman for she had more in common with the Grimm than her somewhat human-like appearance.

The woman's skin was a deathly pallor, covered with tortuous, deep red and purple veins that ran up her arms and face. The sclerae of her eyes were jet black and her irises glowed red. She had a black diamond-shaped marking in the center of her forehead.

She wore a very long black cloak with red designs resembling eyes. She had white hair formed into a bun with six offshoots from which ornaments were suspended.

This woman of Darkness was none other than the Grimm Witch, Salem.

Salem had already known the White Rose's return and was in the middle of developing countermeasures against her but another player had made itself known on the chessboard.

Despite the beliefs of her human pawns, Salem wasn't omniscient. Her knowledge was limited to what her children and pawns provide her with so when her children had encountered the beings of Darkness encased within a shell of metal, she found herself baffled.

Those metal puppets were of the Darkness yet they had defied her will when she attempted her exert her control over them. Not only that, they had the gall to fight back.

Her children answered their mother's call and moved to strike down these new interlopers but they easily held her children back while hunting down the White Rose at the same time.

As much as she was loathed to admit it, Summer Rose aided her children's victory against the Darkness constructs by eliminating all of the new enemy's most powerful members. If the Silver-eyed Warrior wasn't there, her children would have fallen against them.

It also insulted her pride that the White Rose considered these new beings a far greater threat than her children when she ignored the Grimm entirely and focused only on the new enemy.

No matter. They would both see that Salem was not one to be crossed with.

"I know why you have called for me," Salem closed her eyes as she felt the presence of one of her most useful tools, Cinder Fall reaching out to her, "And no, not even with the full gift of Autumn in your grasp can you hope to overcome the White Rose and take her power for your own."

Salem sensed the surprise coming from the False Maiden. The woman no doubt thought that Salem was not aware of Summer Rose's return. She may not be all-knowing but she was still quite attentive to almost all of the recent happenings on Remnant.

The apparent immortality of Summer Rose happened to be one of them.

The astral projection of Cinder Fall knelt behind her with her head lowered in seeming subservience but Salem was no fool. A power hungry human like Cinder was merely biding her time until she was strong enough to oppose and overthrow Salem. Undoubtedly, the naïve girl foolishly thought she could add the White Rose's power and immortality to her own to defeat Salem.

Salem would have had Cinder already disposed of if she wasn't so useful.

"I see nothing escapes you, my liege," Cinder said.

" _Except for Summer Rose,"_ the Grimm Witch bitterly thought.

"No matter," she brushed off the thought of her nemesis, "For the time being, keep your distance from her-"

Before Salem could finish her order, the earth of her kingdom shook, followed by the screams of her dying children.

"Who dares!?" the Queen of Grimm furiously roared at the interruption as she detected intruders in her realm while her tool, Cinder Fall looked around in fear and confusion.

Red eyes glowing menacingly, Salem glared into the distance and spotted the other beings of Darkness slaughtering her children.

An army of slim and bulky automatons marched across her kingdom, shooting down many of her children as they went. The one leading the charge was exactly like the one that her children had encountered back at that measly human settlement as it flew over the army while bombarding her children with purple bolts of energy.

Salem's kingdom was filled to the brim of the oldest and most powerful of her children. Not like those fledglings that had spread across Remnant. Even the greatest of Huntsmen and Huntresses would not last long inside of her realm.

And yet these intruders swatted them aside like flies.

These interlopers dared to enter her dominion so boldly. If they believed that they would simply walk in here with no consequences, then Salem would be obliged to rectify them.

A black tar like substance flowed out of her hands and onto the ground around her like thick black lava. More of her children began to form from the obsidian liquid but these were not mere fleglings. Instead of allowing them grow into their more advanced state and mature, Salem had gave them the thick armoured bodies of Alpha variant Grimm with the ferociousness of their youth.

It took more power than she was comfortable with but she knew that her youngest children would be swiftly slain by this new enemy so she could make an exception in this case.

But her adversary responded in kind as more of their numbers came into being to match and surpass the amount of children that she had recently spawned.

Salem was momentarily taken aback by the sudden appearance of more of them but she quickly recovered by spawning more of her children. As she did so, the Grimm Witch called out for the greatest of her children to come and aid her against these intruders.

Most of them were too deep in their slumber to stir but one answered the call.

The ground shook violently, knocking both the enemy and her children off balance but Salem and the projection of Cinder Fall remained unfazed since the latter was not physically there while the former was prepared for the coming of one of her eldest children.

The ground before burst open as a massive red, black and white worm-like being rose from the newly created hole. The being's length was thirty meters above the ground with a body nearly twice that size beneath the surface. At the top of the head were two pincers, one on each side that reared back as its mask split open to let out shrill keen that echoed across the wasteland.

Spotting its mother, it lowered its head to her level, letting Salem caress its mask with almost motherly care.

"Kalros, you came," Salem spoke to it with a tone that one could have mistaken for warmth if it wasn't for the ones involved. Two beings of Darkness had the tendency to detract whatever happy atmosphere they were in.

Salem didn't make it a habit to name all of her children but the oldest ones that had grown to be the most powerful in her army were the exceptions.

Kalros just so happened to be one of them.

The Hydra Mind unit took note of this new variable in the equation and acted accordingly. More Hydra units were brought to the other side of the Gateway along with a gathering of Harpies to rival the ones that they had sent to Vale.

Despite both races originating from the Darkness, these two couldn't be anymore different from one another. One was race composed of a race with little to no intelligence with only one being the exception while the other was more like one being with thousands of units acting as sort of fingers than actual individuals.

Darkness despised everything and would consumed all of creation, including other Darkness.

00000

As the two races of Darkness clashed, the City of Vale was being subjected to another invasion. It had been only a few hours after the first one and the citizens and soldiers were in the middle of cleaning up when it occurred.

They didn't expect another attack to take place so soon and thus were more caught off guard than the first one especially when what appeared to be androids were the ones attacking.

Unlike the Grimm, the androids could effectively fight off the Atlesian fleet and the Atlesian Knights proved to be largely ineffectual against the hostile androids since they were not only outnumbered but outgunned.

Soldiers urgently led civilians to safety but they experienced more losses compared to the people that they had managed to save. The Atlesian soldiers and civilians weren't the only ones facing casualties as a few Huntsmen and Huntresses in training had lost their lives in the face of this new threat.

The number of students killed in action was small in comparison to the dead civilians and soldiers but it was still a heavy blow to Remnant's future defenders' morale as they lost their comrades in arms.

The students and soldiers found themselves retreating to Beacon Academy as they fought off the genocidal androids. Only a few realized that they were being herded there but they couldn't afford to avoid withdrawing to Beacon since the school could act as a stronghold for them to reload on ammo and recuperate their Aura.

For the second time that day, Team RWBY was fighting for their lives against a seemingly endless horde of enemies in the courtyard of Beacon.

The all-female team were already at Beacon when the androids attacked but they didn't have the chance to restock on their supplies so they were dangerously running low on ammo and Dust as they fought off the androids.

"Weiss, what are these things!?" Blake asked their resident expert on pretty much every subject as sliced some androids to pieces. The former White Fang member was forced to only use the katana part of Gambol Shroud since the blade sheath was heavily damaged when she tried to deflect a plasma bolt with it.

The Faunus girl was lucky since she still had enough Aura to protect her from the plasma bolt but it had cost her a weapon.

"I don't know! These androids are more advance than the new Atlesian Knights!" the Schnee heiress shouted back as she launched energy bolts at another group of androids.

More androids flashed into being beside her and shot plasma bolts at her. Weiss narrowly dodged the plasma bolts but one grazed her hair and set her ponytail on fire.

"Ah!" the mini-Ice Queen cried out in alarm as she tried to put out the fire on her head. She frantically searched her pouch for some ice Dust but the cat Faunus decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Weiss!" Blake said as she shifted her weapon to its flail form before throwing it towards her white themed teammate. The sickle sailed past the Ice Queen's head, severing her burning ponytail as it went before implanting itself in an android's head. Pressing the trigger on the pistol, the blade hurled itself back into her waiting hand while slicing the android's head in half.

In a sense of irony, Weiss pulled out a container of ice Dust a second after Blake had cut off her ponytail. Left eye twitching in irritation, she loaded the ice Dust into Myrtenaster and sent razor sharp icicles to impale the headless android and its companions.

The Checkmate pair seemed to be handling themselves as well as the two sisters.

Yang was able to handle the plasma bolts better than her teammates due to her own Semblance giving her a slight immunity to the flames and heat but it still stung like a bitch and depleted her Aura whenever she got hit by one them.

She decapitated an android with an uppercut before delivering a jab into its chest, shattering it into pieces. Using the recoil of her shotgun gauntlets, the yellow dragon brought her elbow down on another android's head before doing a spinning kick at its torso.

They had learned pretty quickly that the robots could still fight even without their heads after their resident sniper shot them off. If they hadn't known that beforehand, they could have been blindsided by the enemy.

Even though she just went through an extremely traumatizing experience, Ruby set it aside and put her whole focus on fighting these killer androids.

Expertly spinning Crescent Rose, Ruby cleaved through several androids at once before she had to dash away to safety with the aid of her Semblance or her weapon's recoil.

With her keen eyes, Ruby saw one of the androids pull out what looked like a grenade. Before it could throw the grenade, Ruby planted the blade of her scythe into the ground and fired a high caliber round into the explosive, blowing up the android holding it along with any nearby android caught in the blast radius.

Quickly dislodging her scythe from the pavement, the young leader of Team RWBY ducked under more plasma bolts. Still in a crouch, she aimed her scythe behind her and fired. The recoil propelled her towards more androids as she slid on the ground. The girl spun herself and her blade around and sliced the robots into pieces.

Like the Grimm, the androids seemed to be endless no matter how many they destroy. Unlike the Grimm however, there was no clear source where all these androids were coming from. It was as if they appeared out of nowhere.

Ruby might be imagining it but it felt like the androids were singling her out since a majority of them were aiming for her while some kept her teammates preoccupied.

The young leader was about to hurl herself at another group of androids when her instincts howled at her to move. Not one to ignore them, Ruby darted to the side as a tall bulky android materialized and crushed the pavement where she was previously standing.

"Bumblebee!" Ruby called out to her teammates as she franticly dodged explosive energy bolts. It was a good thing that she and her team had already fought a Paladin or the firepower of this big android would have taken her by surprise.

Having heard their leader, Blake tossed her flail at Yang who caught it in her hand. Faunus girl began to spin the blonde girl around her as Yang increased her momentum with her Ember Celica's shotgun blast while knocking into the smaller androids.

Ruby back flipped away from another purple explosion and landed right beside her partner, Weiss.

"Ice Flowers!" she yelled as planted Crescent Rose's blade to the ground while the Schnee summoned glyphs in front of the gun barrel. She fired her snipr-scythe hybrid and the bullet passed through the glyphs, giving it an icy effect.

The android disappeared in a flash of light before the first ice-imbued round could hit it. The red and white pair stared in confusion at where their target was.

"Look out!" Weiss cried out as she pushed Ruby to the side and swiftly turned the revolver on her weapon to red Dust. Releasing the Dust into her blade, the younger Schnee raised her weapon to block the incoming strike from the android that somehow appeared behind them.

Instead of swinging at her with its claw, the android fired a point blank explosive energy round into her guard. The collision of Dust and the energy bolt resulted in a huge explosion that sent Weiss flying while the android only received superficial damages to its armour.

The Schnee impromptu flight came to a painful halt as her back slammed into one of the stone pillars in the courtyard. Blood expelled out of her mouth as the last of her Aura was drained away and Myrtenaster slipped out of her hand.

"WEISS!" Ruby screamed in horror as her partner fell to the ground. She made a move to catch the white haired girl before she could hit the ground but another bulky android materialized in right front of her, blocking her way.

She raised her scythe to block the second android's attack but to her shock and panic, the strike went through her beloved weapon, breaking it into two pieces. The claw went unhindered as it smashed against her chest, knocking her out and sending her flying.

The last of her Aura managed to prevent an instant death but several of her ribs had definitely been cracked.

Ruby rolled uncontrollably on the ground as a white blur caught Weiss. The white blur revealed itself to be Winter Schnee as she held her badly injured younger sister in her arms.

Winter quickly checked her sister's pulse and was immensively relieved to see that she was still alive. The elder Schnee gently laid her younger sister down and picked up Myrtenaster where it fell.

It wasn't her own weapon but Myrtenaster was still very similar to her saber that Winter would only have to make minor adjustments to her fighting style.

One of the big androids raised its foot over Ruby's downed form and was about to bring it down to crush but Yang came in and delivered a fiery punch with a scream of fury. With the aid of her Semblance and the added momentum from Blake, the blonde girl was able to shatter it in one blow.

Winter propelled herself towards the second bulky android and inflicted rapid blows that sent it staggering. She finished her combo by summoning a white Ursa Major through a glyph.

The summon visciously mauled the android several times before biting and ripping its head off with its razor sharp teeth. Winter then willed the white beast to put its claw inside the hole where the android's head used to be. With its bestial strength, her Ursa Major tore the android in half as the Atlas Specialist watched with a stone cold glare.

"No one hurts my sister and gets away with it," Winter harshly spat at the android's remains as she stood protectively over Weiss' injured form.

"Damn straight!" Yang agreed, expelling the spent rounds in her shotgun gauntlets. She reached into her pouch for more ammo but her hand came out empty, "Uh oh."

As if on cue, Winter's Ursa Major was suddenly disintergrated by another energy bolt and more of the big androids started showing up to surround them.

Blake and Yang protectively stood over their unconscious leader and raised their weapons in preparation for battle.

The big ones seemed to be just as tough as the Atlesian Paladins. Team RWBY may have been able to win against a Paladin but they were fully rested and had plenty of supplies. Now, half of their team was down and Yang, the heavy hitter, was out of ammo.

The only upside to this was that they had a professional Huntress with them. The Huntress also just so happened to be Weiss' older sister.

One of those slim androids abruptly appeared next to Winter. The Atlas Specialist spared it a brief glance before skewering it in the chest with Myrtenaster but the android didn't die right away.

It grabbed Winter's arm before she could pull out the blade and its single red optical glowed brightly. Eyes widening in alarm, the elder Schnee raised her other hand to shield her face as the android self-destructed.

Blake and Yang also raised their arms to cover faces as the android did a suicide bombing. They struggled to hold their ground from the explosion as whatever little Aura that they had left was drained away by the shrapnel hitting them their forms.

The black and yellow pair lowered their arms to see the older Schnee was covered with burns and multiple lacerations all over her body. Blood dripped down the side of her face as she panted wearily.

Despite her serious wounds, Winter turned the revolver on her sister's weapon to ice Dust and stabbed the blade into the ground, forming a glyph beneath her feet. More glyphs appeared under the androids around them and ice sprung up from the glyphs and trapped the androids from the waist down.

"Go!" Winter shouted at the remaining members of Team RWBY as the glyph beneath her feet changed, "Take my sister and your leader and leave this place at once!"

"But what about yo-" Yang tried to say but was cut off by the older woman.

"Go now! I'll hold them off as long as I am able!" she yelled as a flock of white Nevermore materialized and started clawing and pecking the androids as a distraction.

Growling in frustration, Yang scooped up her sister and Weiss and ran while Blake gave her cover fire. The Faunus gave the elder Schnee one last glance before following after her partner.

The former White Fang member never imagined she would be in the same team as a Schnee. She also never imagined that another Schnee would sacrifice themselves to save her life.

But it turned out life was full of surprises.

The first year team had already made it out of sight by the time the androids broke free from the ice. Winter had used up the last of her Aura to give her sister and her team the opportunity to escape and she was too injured to fight back.

The Atlas Specialist had saved her precious little sister in exchange for her life.

Winter closed her eyes in contentment as the androids aimed their cannons at her. A small warm smile melted the cold exterior of the woman known as Ice Queen.

There were certainly worse ways to go.

The cannons fired.

00000

Yang and Blake ran while carrying their other teammates as if the hounds of hell were upon them. They were not hounds exactly but the androids chasing them might as well have spawned from the deepest pits of hell.

It was like the androids' mission was to hunt them down and kill them. They even saw some androids stop attacking other students just to join in on the chase.

But they couldn't give up now. Weiss' older sister bought them time to escape. It would be an insult to Winter's efforts if they failed here.

"Yang, watch out!" Blake cried out in warning as she spotted one of those sniper androids take aim at her partner.

The blonde turned her head to see the android fire at her. As if in slow motion, Yang watched the energy bolt reach her body. Tracking the trajectory, she realized that the shot would first hit her sister who she was carrying on her right shoulder. She reared her hand back to launch herself out of the way but remembered that she was out of ammunition.

Changing her plans, Yang quickly jumped to the side to completely get Ruby out of the way. She was awarded with a searing pain on her side for her efforts before she tripped to the ground and sent both her and her sister tumbling over eah other.

"YANG!" the cat Faunus yelled as she watched her teammates fall to the floor. She then saw the sniper android line up for another shot. Acting quickly, she shifted Gambol Shroud to its pistol form and shot at the android before it could fire again.

She wasn't able to kill it as it crouched down and projected an orange sphere around itself. Her bullets merely bounced off the forcefield that it created. That was just fine for Blake though since it gave the needed time to drag her teammates behind a tall pile of debris for cover.

It was just in the nick of time too as the androids chasing them arrived to shoot at them.

"Are you alright?" Blake asked her partner before peeking out from cover to fire at the androids to stall for time.

"I'm fine," Yang gasped in pain as she held her bleeding side, "Is Ruby okay?"

"She's fine and so is Weiss," the former White Fang member replied as she ducked behind cover. The magazine of her gun slid out and she slapped in another one. A quick check told her that besides her current one, she had only one spare magazine left for her gun. She would have to use her rounds sparingly if she didn't want to leave them defenseless.

In this situation, all they could do was stall for time. Time for what, she wasn't entirely sure.

00000

Winter opened up her eyes in surprise as the androids surrounding her either blew up into pieces or fell into two halves. She raised her head to see a white cloak cladded back standing before her with a single-edged sword in hand. There was an aircraft that she had never seen the model of before in the sky where it gave covering fire for the fleeing students.

The Atlas Specialist knew whose back and white cloak that belonged to very well. After all, she had the misfortune of being bested by that person in combat. It stung her pride that she was saved by a wanted criminal but considering the circumstances, she could forgive this transgression for now.

It didn't make up for the humiliation that Summer Rose had inflicted upon her though.

All of the androids stilled at the appearance of the Huntress as if sensing the intense feeling that she was giving off. They pointed their guns at her but the White Rose remained unfazed.

Summer Rose held out a handful of what the elder Schnee recognized as lightning Dust before crushing it within her grasp. The smell of ozone filled the air as an intense current of electricity coursed throughout her body.

Then she moved.

Dirt began to rain down and two footprints were left as indelible marks on the marble floor of Beacon's courtyard. Winter tried to tell herself that she missed the White Rose when she blinked but that excuse sounded hollow even to herself.

Every android in the courtyard were cleanly sliced into two with no sign of the one that destroyed them except for the short glimpse of her white cloak heading inside the school building. It took Winter a moment to realize that Summer Rose was heading to where Team RWBY ran off to.

Winter supposed that it was too much to hope for her younger sister and her friends to be completely out of harm's way but at least Summer Rose would be able to rescue them on time.

The Atlas Specialist acceded to Aura exhaustion and drifted off into unconsciousness. Before her mind slipped away to darkness, Winter thought she felt like someone picked her up from the ground and carried her away.

00000

The battle for Beacon ended the moment Summer Rose stepped onto the battlefield. The battle had now become a massacre as the Guardian tore through every ranks of Vex that were obstructing her path from Team RWBY.

The Vex units didn't have enough time to even point their guns at her being they were destroyed and she only stopped for a split second to make sure if the ones that she saved were Team RWBY. She swiftly moved on after discovering that they weren't.

Summer's personalized Arc Blade should have ended by now but she was able to extend the duration by feeding off the lifeforce of those she killed and absorbing more lightning Dust.

After less than a minute of searching and mercilessly slaughtering Vex, the Guardian came upon a scene of Goblins and Hobgoblins shooting at a tall pile of rubble. The Vex unit closest to her turned around to face her.

That was the thing it would do before Summer dashed past all of the Vex units while repeatedly swinging her sword. By the time that the Vex comprehended their destruction at her hands and fell into pieces, she made it behind the rubble and was greeted with a pistol to the face.

The bullet shot out of the barrel and headed towards her forehead. The Guardian's shields would have been able to stop the bullet from hurting her but with her Arc and Dust enhanced reflexes, her hand came up in a fist.

Summer opened her fist and allowed the bullet caught within it to fall out as the one who accidently shot at her gaped at her in shock and amazement. Catching a bullet wasn't a feat that she could pull off without augmenting her reflexes and perception with Arc so she would normally just deflect the bullets with her blades.

The Guardian would have made a comment about being shot at but she had other important things on her mind at the moment.

"Mom, is that you?" Ruby asked drowsily as she stirred. She tried to push herself off but she started coughing out blood, a sign that she most likely had internal damages.

Summer's heart stopped at the sight of the blood coming out of the young girl's mouth. The Guardian pushed past the black haired girl and was about to check on the red hooded girl but a buxom blonde girl stood in her path.

"You got some nerve showing yourself after what you did to Ruby," the blonde girl glared at her with red eyes, "Especially when you don't even remember her!"

Summer halted in her tracks at the sight of the blonde girl's face. Her mind flashed back to the vision of the little girl with blonde hair and lilac. The eyes were a different color but there was no denying the exact resemblance of the little girl and the teenager before her.

"Yang?" the name came out of her mouth unbidden as Order's Mask dematerialized.

"What?" Yang was taken aback. She was certain that Summer didn't remember her either but the look in her mother figure's silver eyes convinced her otherwise.

"That…that is your name," the Guardian uncertainly continued before asking for confirmation, "Right?"


	18. Thus Kindly, I Return

AN:

I just got a part-time job so I won't be able to update this story as fast as before but I will still be continuing this.

Yang was supposed to lose her right arm while Zwei would sacrifice himself to save Ruby in the original draft of the previous chapter but I changed my mind when a dog bit my right hand.

There was no way that could be a coincidence.

00000

Chapter 17

"You…remember me?" Yang said in surprise. The blonde girl felt a warm feeling bubbling in her chest that made her forget the pain from her bleeding side. It also made her forget the anger that she felt at the woman.

"I think so," Summer Rose replied, nervously rubbing her arm and looking to the side. The older woman's nervous tick reminded Yang of what Ruby would do when she was being timid.

The side of Yang's mouth twitched into an almost smile but the violent hacking from her half-sister caused it to cease before it could fully form.

The yellow dragon turned around to check on the red hooded girl but Summer was faster as she materialized right next to Ruby in another swirl of white rose petals while wearing a helmet that looked like it was for pilots.

The White Rose gasped as she finished scanning the full extent of Ruby's injuries. The helmet dematerialized as the woman laid her palm on the girl's chest before her silver eyes began to glow.

" _That's the same light that Ruby gave off back then,"_ Yang recognized it as she watched Summer's hand start to emit a bit of light as well. The pained grimace on the sniper's face slowly receded as the light dimmed. After a while Ruby's eyelids started to droop. She let out a small yawn before dozing off with a light snore.

"What did you do?" Blake asked, staring at the display and bow twitching curiously.

"I gave her some of my Light to replenish her Aura," Summer explained as she applied the same treatment to Weiss, "It's not enough to heal her completely but it should take care of her most serious wounds before proper treatment."

Blake and Yang had heard about something like that in class. Huntsmen and Huntresses could transfer some of their Aura to another to jumpstart their regeneration but there was a limit to how much that they could give to someone.

After the Huntress finished applying first aid to the two unconscious members of Team RWBY, a warm tenderly smile crossed her face as she gazed at Ruby's sleeping face.

Yang's heart clench at the sight of Summer's expression. The smile was the exact one that she used to give to Yang and Ruby back when they were kids. She didn't appreciate it as much back then but the elder Rose's loving smiles were her most treasured memories of the woman who was like a mother to her.

The brawler wanted to refer to Summer as her mom but she couldn't bring herself to do it since her biological mother was still out there.

The Huntress glanced at the brawler's side and her eyes widened at the sign of blood. Yang's vision was filled with white rose petals as the woman examined her injury. Yang let out a hiss of pain as silver-eyed woman gently prodded her wound. She wanted to slap away the Huntress' probing fingers but it pulled back before she could.

"It looks like you weren't hurt anywhere important," Summer said as she unsheathed a knife and used it to tear a long strip off of her cloak, "But I still have to cover it up."

Before the brawler could protest, the woman that she considered to be her mother wrapped the strip of cloth around her waist as an improvised bandage for her wound.

Blake's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the part that Summer removed from her cape slowly yet surely reknitted itself before it was whole once more.

"There," the Huntress said as she finished tying the cloth tight enough to stem the bleeding yet not enough to be discomfortable, "It's going to take a few minutes for the medics to arrive so try not to agitate your wound till then."

Standing up, Summer pulled out a black wicked looking hand cannon and turned to leave but blonde girl's hand on her shoulder stopped her from doing so.

"Hey, wait!" Yang said, "Where are you going?"

"There are still some Vex out there. I'm gonna go take care of them," she replied, shrugging off the brawler's hand. She took a few more steps before stopping and turning her head to look at the blonde girl, "I'm not entirely sure why but I'm glad that you two are okay."

"Wait, mo-" Yang tried to say but Summer Rose teleported away in a swirl of white rose petals.

00000

It had been several hours since the android invasion and it was late into the night yet people were still strung up too tight because they were afraid another attack would occur the moment they let their guard down.

After the destruction of the giant floating robot centipedes, the Atlesian fleet were able to turn the tides and reclaimed their air superiority while the android ground forces were almost immediately wiped out when Summer Rose entered the battlefield. It was only a matter of time before the defenders of Vale quelled this threat.

And yet, the second invasion had lasted longer and had caused more casualties and destruction than the first one. In fact, they hadn't even finished cleaning up the damages that the first invasion caused.

The results could be clearly seen with the large amount of dead civilians and soldiers with a few Huntsmen in training laying out across the streets while the hospitals were full of patients in critical conditions that it would be a miracle for them to last the night.

For the very few who were fortunate enough to survive with less severe injuries, they were transported to the med bays in the Atlesian ships. Even then, the paramedics found their hands full with the number of people that needed treatment.

Summer Rose, the Huntress that many proclaimed to be the savior of Vale, was currently standing outside a certain med bay while absentmindedly twirling a knife between her fingers with expert dexterity.

That med bay held the Guardian's daughters (it still felt weird for her to refer to them like that) and she was trying to decide if she should go inside or not.

On one hand, Summer wanted to check on the girls and see if they were recovering fine. There was no doubt that the Guardian felt a deep connection to them with how the mere sight of them revived fragments of her previous life and the emotions that came with it.

On the other hand, she didn't think it would be appropriate to do that since she could hardly remember their names and faces. It was true that Summer got some of her old memories back but there were so little of them that they left her with more questions than answers. If she tried to dig into any further memories, she would receive a splitting headache in response.

The Guardian also discovered that the old Summer Rose was a lot different from her current self after researching her previous life on Remnant. The old her could be seen as a well-mannered Huntress that treated everyone with courtesy.

Their fighting styles may be similar but the old Summer Rose fought with honor and dignity while the Guardian had improved her fighting style with more lethality and wouldn't hesitate to use any underhanded methods to give her the advantage.

The Summer Rose now was so informal even to her superiors and was downright irresponsible at times. There was even an extensive list back in the Tower that said what she wasn't allowed to do anymore. With the things that she had done to earn the Vanguards' intervention on numerous occasions, it was a wonder that she still managed to cause trouble without receiving a hefty punishment.

If it wasn't for the fact that Cayde-6 and the Speaker were actually quite fond of her, the other Vanguards would have elected to have her banished from the Tower.

In her defense, it was Commander Zavala who reduced the gardens of the Tower into a smoldering crater when the Titan Vanguard tried to crush her into a bloody pulp with his Hammer of Sol.

As hilarious as it was to see the normally composed Awoken foaming from the mouth, it was still terrifying to be chased around by arguably the most powerful Titan in the Tower.

With that said, it was hard to believe that Summer was ever someone who was mature and dependable enough to raise two daughters. Even Drei had trouble believing it as well even though he was the one who dug up the information in the first place.

Those girls deserved their old mother back and Summer can't be that mother. Not anymore.

"Since when were you good with knives?" a gruff voice interrupted Summer while she was in the middle of tossing the knife into the air.

Even though she was taken by surprise, the Guardian still managed to smoothly catch the tip of the blade between her thumb and index finger. Her eyes flicked to the side to regard the same scruffy Huntsman with the scythe before she sheathed her knife in a twirl.

Qrow Branwen, the Black Reaper, was the same person that she had defeated twice. It was only through a more thorough research of her past did she discover that this man used to be her teammate back on Remnant.

Team STRQ, one of the best teams to have graduated from the prestigious Beacon Academy.

Yet in spite of their confirmed history together, Summer still saw Qrow as something like a passing acquaintance with a vague sense of familiarity.

"It's actually quite recent since I got this bad boy," she replied, patting the hilt of Bolt-caster that was sheathed on her back, "Knives were pretty much the only alternative melee weapon until I could get a better one."

"I see," the man said as took out a metal flask before taking a long drink of its contents, "I might have to get an alternative weapon myself since you broke my scythe and all."

"As impressive as your weapon was, leaving the inner mechanisms exposed was a crucial flaw to the design," she shrugged indifferently, "You should fix that while you're repairing your scythe."

"Yeah, I guess I should," Qrow admitted as he put the metal flask away.

The two former teammates fell into an uncomfortable silence as they attempted to think of a way to keep the conversation going.

It was kind of hard though since Qrow thought Summer was dead this whole time while the Guardian didn't even have a single memory of him.

"So how close were we?" the Guardian was the first to break the ice with a question.

The veteran Huntsman was taken aback by the inquiry but bounced back relatively quick, "We were practically family."

"Huh, you're just another family member I don't remember," she chuckled without humor and turned to leave.

"Summer, wait," Qrow called out to her, making her stop, "What happened to you? Where were you this whole time?"

"A lot happened. Too much to keep track of," she said, "As for where I was, go ask Ozpin. He and Jimmy already heard the story from me."

"I don't want to hear the story from them. I want to hear it from you. I deserve that at least," he stated before gesturing to the door to the med bay where Yang Xiao Long and Ruby were being kept, "And them too."

Summer wanted to prolong the eventual meeting with her supposed daughters as much as possible but she knew that she was being a coward. It was kind of pathetic for a Guardian who had slain countless monsters be so gutless when it came to the children that she scarcely even remembered.

"I'm the last person they want to see right now," she said with a sad smile.

"Well, I think you should go anyway, Guardian," Drei told her, materializing before her and surprising both her and Qrow. The veteran Huntsman even reached for his sword but remembered that it was still broken.

"Drei, I don't think-"

"Exactly, you don't think," the Ghost interrupted firmly, "You always jumped into things head first without even bothering look."

"It doesn't matter if it's something ridiculous or dire, you just do it anyway like an idiot," he continued, "Leave the thinking to me and go out to be the reckless dolt that I know you are."

Summer was surprised to see her Ghost acting this way. He would normally tell her to look before she leaped or scold her over every rash decision that she made but for him to encourage her to be a reckless dolt, it meant one thing.

The side of her mouth curled into a self-assured grin.

Despite his constant complaints of her behavior, the Ghost truly cared for her and wanted to help her in anyway that he could.

"You're right, Drei," she said, puffing up her chest with newfound confidence, "I know what I have to do next."

"Of course, I'm right," he replied in a smug manner, "It's one of my greatest virtues."

"To the kitchen!" Summer loudly announced as she raised her finger high into the air before she sped off, leaving a trail of dust in her wake.

"Wait what?" Drei and Qrow said at the exact same time before the Guardian ran back to grab the Ghost. Neither of the two could properly react when she ran back the way she came.

"What just happened?" the former member of Team STRQ asked no one in particular as he stood in the hallway in confusion.

00000

" _With the devastation of Vale and the loss of many lives, the Vale Council has announced that the Vytal Festival would be canceled this year until this new android threat is resolved-"_

The news broadcast on Cinder's Scroll came to a stop when the False Maiden angrily squeezed the device hard enough to crack the screen and crush many of its inner components.

"Those androids ruined everything," she growled as the Scroll in her hand began to melt from the intense heat that she was unconsciously projecting.

Cinder violently tossed the remains of her handheld device to the side but immediately regretted it since it agitated her injured shoulder. The False Maiden gripped her shoulder and shoved it back into place with a loud pop. She bit her lip to prevent a cry of pain from coming out when she fixed her dislocated arm.

Shortly after her liege was attacked by the androids, Cinder and cohorts were under fire by a large number of the androids.

The androids were not that much of a threat to the fake students. Cinder was confident enough that she wouldn't even have to use a fraction of the stolen Maiden powers to deal with them since she was an accomplished fighter before she got them as well as Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai and Neopolitan.

That was until one of those big androids hit her hard enough to dislocate her right shoulder, severed one of Mercury's legs and could see right through Neopolitan's illusions.

Cinder was forced to use her Maiden powers to give themselves the opportunity to escape to one of their safehouses where they could treat their injured bodies and pride.

If that wasn't enough, the Vytal Festival had been cancelled because of the androids, which threw all of her plans out of alignment.

She had made many adjustments to the main plan as time went on but they all relied on the Vytal Festival happening. With it cancelled, it threw all of her hard work into disarray.

Of course, Cinder tried to turn the android invasion to her advantage by implanting the virus into their network but it proved ineffectual in controlling just one android unit. She had to admit that whoever created these androids was a certified genius to produce something even better than the Atlesian military.

It didn't matter though. They were foolish enough to attack Salem. The Grimm Witch would deal with them in due time.

00000

A Taken dispersed into bluish white mist as smoke came out of the silver barrel with intricate hawk feather etchings carved into its design. Lux Sylphid flicked the hand cannon to side for its chamber to slide out. The spent bullets were expelled before the Warlock jammed in fresh rounds into Hawkmoon.

Dismissing her helmet, Lux holstered her gun and placed a cigarette in her mouth. She cupped her hand against the filter before lighting the tip up with a snap of her fingers. The Awoken took a deep drag as she savored the burning sensation of the nicotine in her lungs before her Light immediately repaired the damages.

The Warlock wasn't sure if being a Guardian made enjoying vices like smoking and drinking alcohol harder or easier since her Light would fix her body right up but damn, it sure as hell gave her some relief.

Lux didn't get to fully enjoy the cancer stick as she was surrounded by Taken Psions duplicating themselves. Smoke blew out of her mouth in a sigh as she drew Hawkmoon in a flash.

Many Darkness Corrupted Psions had a round buried into their skulls before they could return fire or create more duplicates. The Warlock twisted her body around the microrockets from their slug rifles as she retaliated with a bullet from her hand cannon.

Sylphid may not be a Hunter but her sharpshooting and gunslinging skils could put many Hunters to shame. She was able to pull off shots with her hand cannon that many would have deemed impossible to make and only a select few could claim to be an even better shot than her.

The Awoken was so good that the only reason why Summer was good at being a Gunslinger because the Warlock had taught the young Hunter how to shoot like her.

As talented as the young Hunter was at sharpshooting, Summer still wasn't on the same level as Lux though.

She smirked as the last round in her gun spelled the death of a Taken Psion. She removed the still lit cigarette from her mouth and jammed its burning tip into a Psion's eye when it got too close for its own good. It recoiled in pain and covered its blinded eye with both hands.

With an absentminded flick of her wrist, the blinded Taken was hurled at breakneck speeds before crashing into a wall where it was completely pulverized into bluish white mist.

But even with her wicked skills at shooting, Lux was still a Warlock through and through.

Helmet materializing over her head, she reloaded Hawkmoon and launched a Nova Bomb at thick clump of Taken. The Void bolt slammed into the edge of the group but the following explosion was still enough to take out the rest of them.

"Clear the Dreadnaught, he said. It will be easy, he said," the Awoken grumbled as she went to the next Taken-filled sector, "It's for Summer, he said."

Fireteam Nero may have cleared a good portion of the Dreadnaught by now but there was still a whole lot more ground to cover. It felt very tedious to go around killing Taken in spite of how necessary it was.

"I hope Summer is having a bad time like us," she said, cocking her hand cannon, "And I hope we finish this soon."

Lux was really missing Summer's cookies.

00000

"Did you really have to make this much cookies?" Drei asked after he stored the large multitude of bags full of cookies into his data storage, "It's not like they'll be eating this much."

The Guardian had spent the rest of the night in the miraculously still intact kitchens at Beacon where she baked a copious amount of chocolate chipped cookies. She figured that she shouldn't meet with the girls empty-handed as she went to visit them the next day.

Even though cookies weren't the best 'sorry for forgetting you existed' gift, it was still a place to start.

The Ghost still wondered why the young Guardian made so much.

"Hmm?" Summer replied with her mouth full of the delectable treats that she baked as they reached the med bay.

"Oh," the Ghost came to an understanding. Not all of it was for the girls. Of course, the Guardian would make a whole lot more for herself. Even though Huntsmen and Huntresses have a faster metabolism than normal people, they couldn't eat as much as Guardians because the Light-infused warriors were practically bottomless pits and would only stop eating when they felt like it.

Because of this, Guardians were forever banned from buffets and eating competitions.

Despite how unruly she was, Summer was actually very proficient in the kitchen. Cooking and baking were pretty much one of the only things that she took seriously and it showed in the food that she made.

Guardians and normal civilians alike would be instantly captivated with the mere sight and smell of her edible creations especially her cookies.

After all, her cookies were what allowed Summer to join Fireteam Nero in the first place when she gave a sample of them to Lux Sylphid.

Hopefully, Ruby and Yang would accept her peace offerings of cookies. If not, then…she didn't really think this through, did she?

Summer took a deep breath to steel herself before the door slid open to allow her passage. As she entered, she saw the scythe wielder already talking to his nieces.

"Mom barely even recognized me," Ruby glumly said with her head down, "I don't even think she cares about us anymore."

"Hey, don't say that," the veteran Huntsman said, "If she didn't care about you guys anymore, she wouldn't have tried so hard to save you."

"But she doesn't even remember you!" she snapped, "You were in a team and everything but it didn't stop her from trying to kill you!"

"Your mother was only threatening me. I was the one who initiated the fight first and she just kicked my butt in reply."

"But still, how could she forget you? How could she forget _me_?" the young girl asked as her eyes began to tear up.

"Ruby, I'm sure she'll remember us eventually," Qrow said but stopped when he sensed her presence. As if on cue, the middle-aged man and two teenaged girls turned to look in her direction.

The Guardian found her nerves faltering once again as they stared at her expectantly. Gulping audibly, she took out another bag of cookies since she devoured the entire contents of the first one.

"Um, hey. I, uh, brought cookies," she finally said rather timidly as she held out the proffered treats, "I'm not sure if you want any but it's okay if you don't."

Great. She was beginning get off tangent. Fortunately for her, Qrow decided to throw her a bone and wordlessly snatched the bag of cookies from her hand before offering it to the bedridden girls.

Yang gave the cookies a glance before looking away with a scoff. On the other hand, the younger of the two tentatively reached out and picked one cookie up. As Summer watched on with bated breath, she took a few moments to stare at the chocolate chipped treat before taking a small bite.

The Guardian started to panic when tears poured out of the girl's eyes as she bit back a sob. Summer's anxiety came to a stop when she heard what Ruby said next.

"This is just like the cookies you used to make for us."


	19. All Her Lovely Companions

AN:

Were you overcame by feels with the last chapter's ending? You were, weren't you? Don't deny it. ;)

Okay, in all seriousness, I'm sorry for the late update but I have been pretty busy lately with my part-time job and college. As much as you guys love this story, my own real life takes priority over this.

I will still try to at least update once a week but no promises.

00000

Chapter 19

"Oh thank the Traveler," Summer sighed in relief as her legs felt weaker, making her sit down on a nearby bed.

A bed that just so happened to already have someone lying in it. That someone was a teenaged boy who had burnt-orange hair that was combed backwards with a slight peak at the front, and indigo eyes. Both of his legs were in casts that were suspended in the air by a series of cables.

"Ow! Hey , watch it!" Cardin Winchester exclaimed as the Guardian disturbed his broken legs and caused them to flare up in pain.

Without even bothering to apologize to the injured boy or even acknowledge his existence, Summer gave a small smile to Ruby as the younger girl began to dig in to the cookies that she baked.

"I never thought I would ever have anything like these again," Ruby sniffed as she stuffed her face with the chocolate chipped treats.

The other occupants of the med bay, which were the rest of Team RWBY and Team CRDL, looked on the scene with either adulation or disgust at how touching it was.

"I think I'm gonna puke," the leader of Team CRDL scoffed derisively, earning a few glares from most of the other occupants. Qrow was about to give the prick a piece of his mind but Summer beat him to it.

Without warning, a knife was embedded deep into the mattress with the cold metal alloy of the blade very close to a certain body part between his legs.

"Just give me a reason," the female Hunter challenged. What made it more terrifying for the young Huntsman in training was that she still kept her usual cheer as if she wasn't concerned with the moral implications of hurting someone who was already injured.

Or nearly castrating that same person.

The bully wisely decided to keep his mouth shut lest he lose a very important part of his being. He still didn't even get the chance to properly use it so he figured it would be stupid, even by his standards, to provoke the volatile Huntress.

The rest of Team CRDL quickly followed their leader's example and kept their opinions to themselves. Even Qrow unconsciously crossed his legs in sympathy.

For the ones who lacked that certain equipment between their legs, they felt deep satisfaction at seeing the jerk be taken down a peg.

The Guardian's smile widened as the red hooded girl's mood was lightened. In no time at all, the entire bag of cookies was finished and Ruby let out a cute burp. The young Huntress in training turned the bag upside down to see if there was anymore but only crumbs fell out.

"Oops," Ruby sheepishly chuckled while rubbing the back of her head before turning to face her older sister, Yang, "I should have asked if you wanted some."

"It's fine. I made tons more," Summer said as she pulled out a bag that was as big as a person and filled to the brim with cookies before dropping it to the floor where it made a loud boom sound and caused the occupants of the room to be briefly lifted almost a foot into the air.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Qrow stared at the huge bag incredulously. They couldn't believe that something full of cookies could be so heavy.

When the Guardian said that she baked tons more cookies, she really meant _tons more._

"Damn, Summer," Qrow felt the need to comment at the unbelievable amount of baked goods that she had made, "Did you even sleep last night?"

"No, I did not," Summer simply replied, "But who has time for sleep these days?"

"You should get some rest," the veteran Huntsman suggested gently as he looked at the Guardian with concern. She didn't show any signs of fatigue and seemed to be quite lively now that she sort of reconciled with her daughter.

"I already slept for more than a week before you found me," she waved her hand dismissively, "I'm pretty sure that balances out any sleep I missed out for the next few days."

"It…doesn't work like that," Blake Belladonna facepalmed as she sat by Yang's bedside. That logic sounded like something Ruby would think of.

Now that she thought about it. The older woman seemed to be like a taller and more well-developed version of their young leader with Ruby's childish antics and a bit of Yang's headstrong attitude.

"For you mere mortals, maybe," the female Hunter smirked, crossing her slender legs and leaning her chin on her hand, "But for me, I can go on for days before I get tired."

With the situation as it was now, Summer expected for there to be more sleepless nights ahead of her. After all, the Vex didn't sleep or eat and neither would she until they were dealt with.

…

Okay, maybe she wouldn't sleep until the Vex were driven off Remnant. The Guardian proceeded to wipe the crumbs off her face.

Her own cooking was too good to say no to even to herself.

"I'm sorry," Ruby suddenly said.

"For what?" Summer asked, tilting her head to the side in honest confusion.

"For stabbing you!" the young girl exclaimed while she was on the verge of tears once again before she whispered softly, "For killing you."

Oh so _that_ what was upsetting her this time.

Summer was too distracted by the fact that she had two daughters that she forgot how she first met the younger one.

Getting impaled by your own daughter had to be the worst way to reunite with lost family.

The elder Rose was so used to dying that it didn't even bother her anymore but for the young girl, it was most likely the first time that she ever killed a person and not a soulless monster of Darkness.

"It's okay," the Guardian gave her a reassuring smile as she rubbed the back of her head in a familiar manner to the rest of Team RWBY, "It was an accident anyway."

If Summer wanted to soothe the young girl, it was partially successful since Ruby didn't look like she was about to cry again yet she was still feeling downcast.

"Alright, let me just remark that you're not taking your own _death_ very seriously," Weiss Schnee took the chance to state as she too laid in a bed next to Ruby while the brawler was in the bed on the other side.

"If you already know about my history, then you should know that it wasn't the first time I died," the Guardian stated nonchalantly.

The Schnee heiress was taken aback by the sheer indifference that the older woman held concerning her own demise.

"Since we're on the subject on your death, how about you explain to us on _how are you still here_! Why you _don't remember us_!" Yang ended her request in a yell and with blazing red eyes , "And where were you all these years!?"

There was a lot of things that didn't make sense with Summer Rose like how did she gain her extra abilities and immortality. The brawler and red reaper hoped that they would get the answers now.

"That, Ms. Xiao Long, is quite a long story," Drei chose this moment to materialize beside Summer's head, taking everyone except the Guardian by surprise, "And if you're willing to listen and keep an open mind, then we shall tell it to you."

"As for my amnesia, it's a side-effect to what happened to me," Summer said as she held out her hand before it ignited into flames, "Among other things."

Team RWBY stared at the Guardian's burning hand, transfixed by the display of otherworldly power. Ruby and Yang already knew that their mother's semblance was teleportation and that she didn't use Dust as often in battle so they were aware that this was no mere parlour trick with fire Dust.

But one person remained skeptical.

"Anyone could achieve the same results as that by imbuing Dust into their clothing," Weiss derided, "This doesn't prove anything except that you know how to handle Dust better than your daughter."

"Oh, really now?" Summer said as the gauntlet of her flaming hand dispersed into white particles.

The Schnee heiress would have made a comment on the gauntlet dematerializing but she was rendered speechless by the Guardian's unarmoured hand still emitting fire without the apparent use of Dust. The mini-Ice Queen couldn't use her argument again since the gauntlet where Dust could have been stored was now gone.

"B-but how did yo-" Weiss stammered but she was interrupted by the female Hunter.

"I guess I'm too _hot_ to handle, hey-O!" Summer loudly said before blowing out her burning hand like it was a candle while her bad pun elicited a collection of groans from everyone except for a certain brawler.

"Hah, that's a good one!" Yang started laughing at the Guardian's joke.

Summer stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly but surely, her head turned to look at the blonde haired girl in such a mechanical manner that they could have sworn they heard creaking noises.

Did someone geniunely laugh at one of her puns?

The blank look that Guardian looked at Yang with gradually changed to what could be described as something coming close to complete rapturous joy.

"You actually like my jokes," Summer said, almost choking on a sob of relief.

In her entire career as a Guardian, no one had ever appreciated or laughed at any of Summer's puns. It didn't matter if they were human, Awoken or Exo, all of them disliked her jokes with a passion. Even aliens that understood their language hated them since they would always try to kill her harder whenever they had to listen to any of her puns.

But this girl, her own daughter…

"Yeah, they're…" the yellow dragon paused for dramatic effect before delivering the punchline, " _Punny_."

The young Xiao Long and older Rose gave each other matching grins that was a sign of many bad puns to come, much to the dismay of everyone else.

Luckily for them, the Ghost deemed it fit to intervene before any damages could be done.

"I think we're getting off-tracked here, Guardian!" Drei swiftly called out to her, "I believe we are supposed to be giving them an explanation."

"For starters, you can tell us what the hell are you," Qrow interjected, pointing a finger at the Ghost, "And why you keep calling her Guardian."

"Because a Guardian is what she is," the little cube-like being said, "Like in her previous life, her duty is to safeguard the last vestiges of humanity and to eliminate those who would threaten it."

"I, a Ghost, am paired up with her and my duty is to aid Guardian Rose in her mission in whatever way I can such as providing her with intel, operating equipment and as you have no doubt seen for yourself, resurrect her should she fall in battle."

"There's nothing on Remnant that could bring back the dead," the veteran Huntsman said. He already looked for one after Summer's final mission.

"Exactly," the Ghost smugly replied, "Nothing _on Remnant_."

The audience went silent as they took a few moments to think over what Drei was implying. Their reactions were pretty much expected.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Yang roared as she pushed herself up from the bed, not caring of agitating her injuries, "Is that the best you can come up with!? Aliens! What kind of excuse is tha-"

The blonde haired girl's tirade was put to a screeching halt as the Ghost projected a hologram of a member of the Hive. Not just any Hive but the Hive prince, Crota himself.

The Son of Oryx stood over ten feet tall and wielded a single-edge, cleaver-like greatsword that was the size of an average person in one hand. His three eyes, body and ancient armour produced an ethereal green light that emphasized the otherworldy feeling it gave off.

Even though it was just a hologram and not the real thing, they were scared speechless by the mere sight of the ancient Hive god. Even Qrow, who had seen many horrifying things in his life, found his hands trembling slightly as the image of Crota seemingly glared at them.

And locked in mortal combat was Summer Rose herself as she wielded a sword just like the one that the Hive God was brandishing.

The scythe-master had seen the things that _she_ had made and had thought them to be fear itself but seeing that twisted abomination made him reconsider his opinion. Hell, he hadn't even seen the real thing yet and he was already very reluctant to face it in battle. Not without an entire army at his back.

"The world is a much bigger place than you think," Summer said in a coldly serious tone that was a contrast to her earlier cheer as the hologram her continued to fight the horrendous being in the most intense battle that Remnant had ever seen, "And there are things out there that put the Grimm to shame."

"I've face them myself," she added before the hologram her struck the deathblow on Crota, "Killed them too."

Team RWBY, Team CRDL and Qrow let out a breath that didn't realize they were holding as Summer slew the alien entity. They were relieved that something like that was gone for good.

"And now," the Guardian said as the projection changed to show the vast army of the Vex, making the young students pale at the massive numbers while the veteran Huntsman's expression turned grim, "Some of them are on Remnant."

00000

Ruby was having a hard time wrapping her head around all of this.

First, her mother, who she thought died, was alive only for the red hooded girl to kill her again. Then to her shock and relief, her mother came back to life as if she never died in the first place. That relief soon turned into distress when she discovered that the woman barely remembered who she was.

The young leader didn't really have a lot of time to brood over it when the androids, which she later learned were called the Vex, attacked the city of Vale.

But now, her silver eyes sparkled with child-like wonder as her mother and that weird cube thingy recounted tales of humanity long before the time of Remnant. It was like the fairy tales that Summer used to tell Ruby and Yang when they were still kids except they were actually real.

They told them of how mankind had adapted and grew without the aid of Dust to be able to traverse the stars where they met the Traveler.

That was the start of the Golden Age of humanity.

The way Drei and her mother described the Traveler depicted it as nothing short of a god. Considering it was able to alter the very environment of dozens of worlds with its powers supported its case that not even Weiss, who was usually so narrow minded, couldn't refute its great powers.

Ruby found herself feeling bad when they got to the part when the Darkness, the archenemy of the Traveler, came and caused the Collapse of the Golden Age. Just as when mankind was on the brink of extinction, the Traveler sacricifed itself to drive off the Darkness and to save humanity.

"Why would something so powerful lay down its own life for a weak race like us?" Blake asked, feeling upset and confused that something like the Traveler would perform the ultimate sacrifice.

"The same reason why we protect those who couldn't do it themselves," Summer Rose answered with a smile full of hope yet had a hint of sadness to it, "Because it's the right thing to do."

"But in its last dying breath, the Traveler created the Ghosts like me to seek out those who can wield its Light as a weapon, the Guardians, to protect the last of mankind and do what the Traveler itself no longer can," Drei said, "And hundreds of years later, I found your mother in one of the many ruins on Earth."

"And that's how I became, you know," the Guardian stated as she gestured to herself, "Like _this_."

"Wait, if you're some 'Guardian', then why was the Atlas military after you?" Weiss Schnee couldn't help but point out.

"I stole several military property to fix my spaceship," she simply said, "And for the record, I'm not giving them back."

The audience were incrudelous that Summer Rose would brazenly admit to committing such a crime and was not at all feeling remorseful over it.

"Welp, as much as I loved to listen to your adventures in space (never thought I would ever say that in a damn sentence), Ozpin's calling for me and Summer," Qrow interrupted any statements that they could have said as he held out his Scroll to show them the message that Ozpin sent him, "So we better get going before we get in trouble."

The middle aged man spared the Guardian a glance, "Anymore trouble."

"I am not apologizing," Summer said stubbornly, making her former teammate groan in irritation.

"Whatever, we have to continue this another time," Qrow sighed as he regained his composure before he stood up while motioning for Summer to follow him, "So let's go."

"Yeah, I guess we should," Summer conceded as she followed suit.

"Wait, mom!" Ruby called out to her before she could exit through the door. The White Rose turned to face the bedridden girl with a small wince that only Qrow and her Ghost could detect.

She still wasn't used to being called 'mom' but she was willing to push aside her discomfort for Ruby.

"You'll come back, right?" the young leader had dropped one hell of a bombshell on the Guardian as Summer's mind flashed back to a lost memory.

00000

" _You'll be coming back home, right mommy?"_

" _Of course, sweetie. Mommy promises she'll be back before you know it."_

00000

Summer blinked several times as the memory faded away. Even though it was very brief, it explained why her chest ached whenever she thought of potentially breaking promises.

The Summer Rose of the past promised Ruby that she would return home but she failed to keep it in the end.

But this time…

"Yes, I will," the current Summer Rose said with absolute resolution that left no room for doubt before she followed after Qrow through the door.

She intended to keep that promise. No matter what.

00000

"All things considered, that turned out remarkably well," Drei said as he hovered next to the Guardian, "Making great progress with reconnecting with your daughters."

"Uugh!" the Ghost's entire frame shook a little in reminiscent to a shudder, "It still feels odd for me to say that."

"Tell me about it," Summer groaned as she rubbed her face, "That was mentally exhausting."

"Yes, with your maturity or lack thereof, it must have been very excruciating for you."

"Oh yeah, did you really have to show them Crota? Isn't he too much for the kids to handle?"

"I was originally going for Oryx for impact but I reckoned his son was the better option."

"That _thing_ has a dad!?" Qrow exclaimed in shock. The Huntsman was content to leave the Ghost and Guardian talking with each other but the thought of that abomination having a father was enough for him to think it was necessary to join in.

"I _know_ ," she agreed, "I was just as surprised as you are when I found out. And let me tell you, Oryx was on a whole other level than his son."

The veteran Huntsman went cold at the thought of a being even more powerful than _that thing_. Before he could voice his worries, he was interrupted by a loud shout across the hall.

"I don't care that visiting hours are over!" a man's voice bellowed furiously, "I am going to see my daughters and you are not going to stop me!"

Qrow knew that voice very well and by the small glint of recognition in Summer's eyes, she did as well albeit vaguely.

A man, who looked like he was on a mission, strode into view but he halted in his tracks at the sight of the two.

Or more specifically, at the sight of Summer Rose.

Man had blond hair that had two small strands sticking out from the top, lilac eyes, a soul patch and a small stubble along his jawline. He also had a tattoo on his right arm. He wore brown cargo shorts with a dark brown belt, black shoes, a red bandana on his left arm, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off. For armor, he wore a metal spaulder, leather vambrace, and a brown fingerless glove, all on his right arm.

This man was Taiyang Xiao Long. Not only was he Summer's former teammate in Team STRQ, he was also the father of Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose.

This man was the old Summer Rose's lover.

00000

 _SNAP!_

"Cayde, are you alright?" the dark skinned Warlock gently asked her Exo comrade in concern as Cayde-6 held a knife with its blade snapped in half while the lens of his left eye had been cracked for no apparent reason.

A Hunter's knife was made out of a very special metal alloy, the same ones that they used for jumpships so even the strongest of Titans would be hard-pressed to break one and yet the Hunter Vanguard had done it with seemingly no effort, which was very worrying for the other Vanguards.

The Exo was not known for his physical strength and would rather have Titans do the heavy lifting for him so he shouldn't be able to break one of his knives so easily.

Then there was the fact that Hunters took very good care of their knives like Warlocks with their tomes and Titans with their heavy weaponry and Cayde was no different.

But what made Ikora Rey and Commander Zavala extremely wary of the Hunter was the almost physical feeling of danger that came out of the Exo.

The cybernetic being looked about ready to commit mass murder and the other two Vanguards were under no delusion that either of them could stop him if he really decided to snap.

As it turned out, the Hunter did snap but luckily for the denizens of the Tower, he just snapped out of whatever murderous trance that he was in.

"Huh, I'm sorry what was that?" Cayde turned to regard the Warlock as he put away the broken knife like nothing happened.

"Did something happen that we should be aware of, Cayde?" Ikora inquired softly as if she was talking to a wild animal that might attack at any moment. Since she was one of the only people left to have ever seen Cayde in action, the Warlock did not wish to provoke him.

She wasn't a total fool after all.

Cayde pondered over her question for a moment as the crack on his left eye slowly repaired itself with his Light before coming to decision, "Nothing that comes to mind."

"Maybe you should take a break," Zavala suggested much to the surprise of Ikora and Cayde, "You appear to have some need of it."

If the rigid Awoken thought Cayde should take it easy, then it must have been very serious indeed.

"Um, ookaaay," the Exo said slowly as he tentatively got up from his seat, "If you say so."

As he left the room, Cayde wondered why he felt the sudden and inexplicable urge to lay waste to everything around him. And why did he have a sudden hatred for old yellow dragons?

Oh, well. It didn't matter. Cayde knew a way to blow off all of this unexpected aggression.

"Hey, Fireteam Nero," the Hunter Vanguard contacted Summer Rose's teammates as he made his way to the shipyard.

"What?" the fuming voice of Lux Sylphid replied.

"You'll be getting an additional Guardian to help you clear out the Dreadnaught," the Exo informed her.

"Fucking finally!" the female Awoken exclaimed in relief, "It's taking us forever to clear this fucking dump so it's about damn time we got some reinforcements. So anyone we know?"

"Yeah, me."

00000

AN:

Robo Reader 21 had stated that he wanted to see the list of things Summer isn't allowed to do anymore so here is the first Omake for this story that only shows a _partial_ amount of it.

P.S.

Based on the fanfic, "Please Stop Eating the Hell Butterflies" by Mistress Nika.

Omake:

It was the opinion of the Vanguard (mostly Ikora Rey) that a little public humiliation went a long way as a deterrent to objectionable behavior. Of course, they couldn't call it that. They called them gentle reminders of what was not acceptable and displayed each person's wrongdoings for all of the Tower to see. If one Guardian made a mistake and he was publicly reprimanded by the Vanguard, others would surely realize they shouldn't make the same mistake as he did.

This led to the creation of a list of guidelines that was sent to every Guardian in the Tower everytime it was updated.

Ironically, this was less of a deterrent and more of a source of amusement and gossip. There was even a running bet to see when the next one came.

To be honest, this was actually implemented because of a certain Guardian by the name of Summer Rose. In fact, almost the entirety of the list was because of her.

Here are some examples of what she did now:

(The ones with numbers are specifically because of Summer Rose)

1\. We know you have never seen an Exo before but please stop harassing every Exo you meet. They find it uncomfortable to be poked and prodded like some fancy toy.

2\. Cease your tinkering with the Frames at once. They are not meant for combat like Exos for they are more suitable for menial tasks.

3\. You will not give the Frames upgrades to their softwares in hopes of making them evolve into Exos. The method to creating Exos may be lost but we're certain that is not how they were made.

4\. It may not be explicitly said in the rules of Crucible matches but please refrain from shooting your fellow Guardians below the belt.

5\. When we said below the belt, we meant below the waistline so it is still not appropriate to shoot your opponent in the crotch even though you somehow managed to pull down their pants.

6\. You are not allowed to kidnap Exos so you could give them additional upgrades that they do not need or want.

7\. We don't care if you had permission from an Exo! You're still not allowed to tinker with them heedlessly!

Vanguard Cayde-6- No, Cayde! You _cannot_ have a rocket fist! Stop encouraging her!

8\. Please refrain from performing experiments while you're still inside the Tower. The next time you destroy your quarters, you will pay for the expenses _and_ conduct repairs yourself.

9\. We're not sure where you got it or how you were able to smuggle it into the City in the first but if you do not put that fully grown Ahamkara back where you found it, we _will_ have it killed and its parts will be harvested and made into armour.

10\. Oh, so that _was_ the reason why you brought the Ahamkara here in the first place. Never mind, carry on then.

11\. We commend you for your intiative in starting a bake sale but please ask for permission from the Vanguard first before you set up shop in the Tower's courtyard. The sheer amount of customers that you had was enough to block entrance to the Tower and caused an enormous traffic jam that had span over several blocks.

12\. Also, please send us a sample of your baked goods so that we may judge them appropriately. A baker's dozen seems to be the right amount.

13\. You are not allowed to sabotage the opposing team's firearms prior to a Crucible match. Do not deny it, we know it was you so please stop it at once.

14\. You are prohibited from doing any kind of graffiti on the Traveler. Not only is it against the rules, it is also disrespectful and sacrilegious on many counts. You are fortunate that your teammate stopped you before you could commit the heinous act.

Guardian Prometheus-23- We would like to congratulate you for preventing his teammate, Guardian Summer Rose, from desecrating the Traveler's visage.

15\. Do not needlessly provoke Commader Zavala. Yes, we understand that the pranks was initially meant for Cayde-6 and the commander was caught in it instead but please be careful when setting it up so others won't be caught up in it. On second thought, don't do it ever again.

Commander Zavala- Your reaction to Guardian Summer Rose's misconduct was excessive and unbefitting of someone in your position so would you kindly rein in your temper next time?

To all Guardians of the Tower- Please refrain from describing anything as foolproof. It would just encourage Guardian Summer Rose to find a way to ruin it. This also applies if you want to call something "Summer Rose-proof" because there is no such thing as "Summer Rose-proof". That concept can never come true. Trust us, we already tried.

16\. Stop spending too much time with the Fallen Variks of the House of Judgement. He's starting to be a bad influence on you. (If anyone's going to be a bad influence on you, it's going to be me- Cayde-6)

Vanguard Cayde-6- Stop being a bad influence to Guardian Summer Rose.

17\. Skolas may have been a warmongering tyrant that had done many heinous crimes over the years but it was definitely too extreme to shove an explosive into what passes for a rectal cavity in a Fallen and then give the detonator to the Queen of the Reef. This would not be such a serious offense if you had not sent the video of you performing the act on Skolas to every corner of the galaxy, including other Fallen Houses. (On a side note, I'm so proud of you, Summer! XD - Cayde-6)

18\. Please leave Guardian Elvis Presley alone. Yes, we are all aware that he was very famous in his past life but he certainly has better things to do these days than perform at concerts.

19\. Please perform weapon maintenance either in your personal quarters or when there's no one around. The other Guardians are feeling unerved to the way you treat your weapons.

20\. Smuggling live aliens into the City is strictly prohibited as well as pitting said aliens in an underground fight. The Vanguard (correction: Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey) do not care how much you made with the betting ring. Do not do it again.

00000

AN:

To any of the fans of this story, you're welcome to write the story behind these rules since I'm too busy to do them myself. Just remember to give credit to where you got it and send me the link.


	20. Are in Full Bloom

AN:

I'm gonna clarify a few things just in case anyone's confused.

First, the Breach, Summer Rose's reveal and the Vex attack on Vale all happened on the same day.

It was late into the night when Team RWBY found the train in Mountain Glenn to Vale and it was morning during the events of the Breach. The Vex attack happened a bit later into the middle of the day and Summer spent the whole night and most of the next morning baking cookies so this chapter takes place between morning and noon.

Second, all we know of the Vanguard's fighting prowess is that they are considered the best of their class so I'm going to be taking some liberty in writing Cayde's fighting style. I'm not sure if there are any other fics or videos that depict how he fights but this is how I think the best Hunter would fight.

Third, a lot of you are mistaking Cayde-6's reaction to Taiyang as a fit of jealousy and that he has a romantic inclination towards Summer Rose but let me rectify that notion. Cayde and Summer's relationship is completely platonic. There is nothing romantic going on between them. What Cayde's feeling is what every overprotective father feels whenever their daughters are close to a member of the opposite sex.

There was also a mention of Cayde-6 considering Summer to be like a daughter to him despite being two completely different races in chapter nine if you don't recall.

So there isn't going to be any love triangle or romance of any kind in this story since it is not the main focus. The main focus is Summer reconnecting with her daughters, which is why Yang and Ruby's names are specifically listed on this story.

Besides, I am not very good at writing romance let alone something like a love triangle.

Also, I have already said this before but Taiyang and Summer won't be getting back together.

Don't like, don't read.

00000

Chapter 20

Summer didn't know where children came from. She didn't really need to learn the ins and outs of child birth since Guardians can't reproduce through natural means and required a Ghost to revive someone to add to the Guardian population. There was also the fact that female Guardians no longer suffered the same monthly cycles (whatever the heck those were, thought Summer) as normal women.

Even though her education was quite lacking in that manner, she was aware that it was a two person job with a male and female. So when she discovered the existence of her daughters, the identity of their father was one of the first things that she looked up along with her past life and a brief profile of the young girls.

The Guardian knew of Taiyang Xiao Long but she didn't expect to meet with him so soon. She honestly hoped that their meeting would be in a chapter or two (she's not sure why she used chapter for some reason) so she was wholly unprepared when she was face to face with the man in question.

She was half-dreading and half-hoping for this confrontation.

Summer was afraid that she wouldn't remember the man that she supposedly had an intimate relationship with. Her daughters and Qrow tried to hide it but she could tell that they were disheartened by how different she was from the previous Summer Rose.

Taiyang Xiao Long most likely still harbored feelings for the old Summer Rose and would be heartbrokened that the Guardian was no longer that person. It was one thing to know that someone you loved was dead. It was another when that person still lived yet they can't so much as recall their face, let alone their name while being a entirely different person.

She was half eager for this meeting because she hoped that seeing her past life's lover might be able to revive some if not all memories of her previous life. Meeting Yang and Ruby was enough to make her remember so maybe meeting with Taiyang would produce similar results.

"Summer, i-is that really you?" the blonde man slowly approached with his hand stretched out to touch her by the cheek, "Is-is this real? Are you really here?"

The man looked at her as if he was a blind man seeing the sky for the first time as tears began to well up in his lilac eyes. His hand cupped her cheek as if to confirm that what he was seeing was real and in fact not a dream.

The man's hand was rough with calluses that spoke of his experiences in very grueling battles and was a sign of a man who had survived all of them. Yet the way that he held her was nothing but full of tender warmth as his fingers brushed back some loose strands of her reddish-black hair.

Taiyang's hand moved oh so delicately over her skin. It was like he was afraid that might shattered the reality of her being here if he wasn't too careful.

And now as the current Summer Rose stood there in the hallway with the reaper and the elder yellow dragon, she couldn't help but feel…

"I guess it is," Summer said somberly as she placed her hand over the one cupping her face. Taiyang's expression lit up like his one true dream was finally realized but it soon changed to confusion and a twinge of hurt as the Guardian gently removed his hand from her face before taking a step back from him.

Disappointed with herself.

In spite of their relationship in her past life, Taiyang felt no different to her when she first encountered Qrow.

The man was like an acquaintance that she had met in passing to the Guardian.

There was no denying the familiarity that she had for the blonde man but that was it. Her heartbeat didn't quicken, no butterflies filled her stomach and there was no spark or anything of the sort when their skin touched.

The Guardian simply didn't feel the love that her old self held for the man. She recognized Taiyang as an old friend and teammate but that was it.

Whatever love that the old Summer Rose had for him just wasn't good enough to make her remember.

She didn't know how to deal with this situation. She needed to get away.

"I'm sorry," Summer solemnly said like it would fix everything as she Blinked away from the forlorn and confused Taiyang before he or Qrow could regain their bearings.

Remembering was too much of a bother especially when others expected so much from her while her own efforts to recover her memories were in vain.

00000

Ozpin let out a biggest sigh that he ever had in years as he skimmed through the damage and casualty reports. The man was usually quite diligent when it came to paperwork but he had lost his drive to do them properly as each reported stated how much was lost in the Vex attack.

His mind was also on other things that shook the very foundation of all of Remnant.

Aliens. It was a concept that many scientists on Remnant had entertained but could never fully prove until the concrete evidence showed up at their doorstop and proceeded to massacre them.

Vale wasn't the only place that was attacked by the Vex as the other kingdoms experienced similar invasions but on a smaller scale than Vale so Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo didn't receive the same amount of damages as here.

They had also lost contact with almost all of the settlements outside of the kingdoms with the only exception being Patch and several small villages. It was not unusual for villages to disappear overnight but for this many to vanish all at once, it must be the work of their newest enemy.

Or rather one of their oldest enemy.

If Summer Rose was telling the truth, humanity had been at war with the Vex far longer than the Grimm and it was only going to get far worse from here.

Things would have been a lot simpler if Summer Rose _was_ actually a traitor to the four kingdoms but in reality, she was just trying to save them from another threat that Remnant was not ready for.

The Headmaster of Beacon took a sip from his mug and grimaced in distaste at how the coffee had long grown cold. Nevertheless, he needed the caffeine and proceeded to down the cold beverage with little complaint.

The silver haired man stared at the screen where it showed him the names and faces of the students that were killed. He committed every detail on them to his memories. He had made more mistakes than any man on Remnant and these students' deaths added to the long list.

Ironwood was right. His students were not ready for war.

The mug shattered within his grip, his Aura preventing the shards from cutting his hand but he paid no heed to the destruction of his favorite mug as the expression on his face tightened.

Then Ozpin had no choice but to make them ready.

00000

"Real smooth, Summer," the former leader of Team STRQ berated herself as she sat against the wall of the room that she Blinked into, "Real smooth."

"Indeed," Drei sighed wearily as he materialized in front of her, "But that was better than how you first met Mr. Branwen. The Traveler knows it was an even greater first meeting than how you first met your daughter."

The Ghost and the Guardian shivered a bit at the mention of 'daughter'. They still weren't used to the idea of Summer having a child. It has only been a day after the revelation so it was to be expected that they hadn't fully wrapped their heads around it yet.

After shuddering, Summer winced at the memory of her dying by her daughter's hand. Even though it was an accident and wasn't permanent, something like was bound to give the young a lot of trauma.

She just hoped that Ruby was strong enough to pull through from it and recover.

"I have no idea how to deal with children, much less my own and then I meet the guy I had children with," she sulked as she kneaded her forehead, "I thought the most complicated thing I have on this planet to do was repel an alien invasion but nooo, I just had to meet my long lost family who I didn't even know still existed till now!"

"What the hell am I suppose to do?" Summer turned her head to face a teenaged boy with black hair and magenta eyes, "Any suggestions, pinkie?"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rose but why are you asking me?" Lie Ren asked as he tilted his bandaged head in confusion.

"I would usually ask people that I know but I can't contact most of them at the moment and this guy isn't much use in a situation like mine," she explained as she pointed a thumb at her Ghost, "So I figured that there's no harm in asking a complete stranger for advice."

The quiet boy hummed in understanding. The older Rose was right. It wasn't like any advice that he could give her would make her predicament any worse than it was now.

Ren paused as he fully processed what the Guardian had said.

"Wait, aliens?"

"What did you think you were fighting yesterday? Robots?" she replied, arching a brow, "Atlas is the only one on Remnant that can make robots and the ones you fought were a whole lot more advance than theirs."

Before the magenta eyed boy could retort, an orange haired girl jumped onto the bed that he was laying in and trapped him in a crushing grip with her arms.

"Oh my god, Ren! We kicked alien butt! How awesome is that!?" Nora Valkyrie exclaimed excitedly as she squeezed her best friend tighter, making his bones cracked audibly.

Summer blinked several times in surprise as the lively girl began rambling over how awesome Team JNPR was that even aliens fell before them. The girl was speaking so fast that the Guardian gave up trying to understand all of it.

"Was I ever like that?" she privately asked her Ghost as she leaned her head closer to his form while watching the Valkyrie girl literally jumping all over the place.

"Thank the Traveler, no!" Drei answered, horrified at the thought of a Guardian like Nora Valkyrie. After seeing this young woman, he was now incredibly thankful that his Guardian wasn't as hyperactive as Nora in spite of his many misgivings with Summer's behavior.

The other occupants of this particular med bay must have been used to the orange haired girl's antics as two of them were still sleeping while Ren sat in his bed with a very tired expression.

The people sleeping were a red haired girl laying in a bed and a blond haired boy sitting in the chair beside her.

The red haired girl was clearly in a worse state than the other three with most of the skin that Summer could see were covered in thick bandages with some parts of her face being the only thing that remained bare.

The Guardian heard about the suicidal tactics of Goblin units where they teleport next to their target and blow themselves up. The Vex had used this tactic many times on the most dangerous combatants on the field like the Huntsmen and Huntresses stationed in Vale. It was even a strategy that the cyborgs tried to use on Summer in the past before she made them ineffectual against her.

This girl must have been caught in one of the Vex's suicide bombs, which either meant that she was too close to who the Vex deemed a great threat or she _was_ the one that the Vex saw as a threat.

If it was the latter, the red haired girl must possess great talent and skill to be considered a target to be eliminated by the Vex.

Despite her many injuiries, it still looked like the girl would make a full recovery since Summer noticed the lack of an IV drip and a breather mask over the unconscious girl's face. Most of her wounds was very likely just on the surface and it looked worse than it actually was.

The blonde boy who sat by the girl's side and held her hand in his was a bit of the tall and scraggly side. Even with his other arm in a sling and other wounds that he must have received in battle, he didn't give off the impression of being a fighter to the Guardian.

Then again, neither did Cayde-6 at first until she managed to find a recording of him in action.

Speaking of Cayde, how was the Hunter Vanguard doing anyway?

00000

It had been a very, _very_ long time since Cayde-6 was on the frontlines but his skills and powers had not diminished in the least.

He may not have ever fought against the Taken before but he had the extensive knowledge on how to deal with every Taken grunts up to the lieutenants. Aside from the higher ranked Taken, they would pose no problem to the Hunter.

Cayde-6 didn't become a Vanguard for nothing after all.

A Taken Hobgoblin fired a shot at the Exo's back with its Line Rifle, which he easily avoided by casually tilting his head to the side. The Corrupted Vex was about to line up for another shot but a round tore burrowed into its single glowing eye before it got the chance to.

Cayde lowered the hand cannon in his right hand, Vortimer-D with the tip of the barrel smoking. Taking a step back, his left hand snapped up and fired a round from Moss Azoth IV into a Taken Acolyte on his left. The next shot was the start of a staccato symphony of gunfire that echoed off the cavernous walls around the Exo and the Taken.

The barrel of Vortimer-D belched a powerful projectile as another Taken Acolyte lost most of its head. Stepping to the side to dodge a volley of microrockets, Moss Azoth IV was aimed over his shoulder and fired a round into a Taken Psion's eye before it got the chance to duplicate. By the time that those two Taken dissolved, Cayde had already moved his guns to eliminate two more..

The Exo's arms whipped around him so fast that to the untrained eye, it would appear his arms had disappeared entirely. Even to those who had received a decent amount of training, all they would see of his arms were dark brown blurs, which were then followed by the almost rhythmic shots of his hand cannons.

And that was how the cycle of death continued on as the Exo dodged the enemy's gunfire before retaliating with a bullet of his own where it would kill them with pinpoint precision.

Despite being a smaller weapon compared to rifles, hand cannons weren't weapons that should be used with one hand, let alone be dual-wielded since the recoil was more powerful than your standard handgun and required a better grip. Yet the Vanguard had long mastered the art of dual-wielding guns that no one could deny the effectiveness of using two hand cannons.

The only downside to this that reloading would be slower than just using one hand cannon so he had to make every shot count before he was forced to reload. It still took him a very brief moment to reload both guns but in a life or death battle, he might as well leave himself open to anything fast enough to capitalize on that opening.

But if Cayde was going to let a weakness like that take him down, then he would have died a long time ago.

He didn't even turn his head around to aim at the Taken beings and simply judged its location through the direction and angle of where their shots originated from. With his cybernetic mind computing the calculations and his radar providing a vague layout of the terrain, he made his choice and fired.

There was no need to see if his shot would hit since he already knew it would. Once Cayde had mastered his craft, he would never miss a shot unless he intended to or the enemy was skilled enough to dodge or deflect his bullets at the last second.

There were only a select few who could claim to be better marksmen than Lux Sylphid and Cayde was not only one of them, he was _the best_ sharpshooter out of every Guardian in the Tower.

Every bullet that he fired was a guaranteed death sentence to whatever his target was.

His guns expelled their last rounds, sending two more Taken back to oblivion but there were still a great deal more Taken surrounding him. The Darkness corrupted being didn't give the Exo the chance to reload as they charged at him with reckless abandon, very eager to kill the best Hunter in the Tower.

Even with his perfect sharpshooting skills, Cayde wasn't a one-trick pony. No Hunter worth their salt was ever a one-trick pony.

 _SHING! SHING!_

A three inch razor sharp blade popped out of the bottom of each hand cannon's handle, revealing them to be a gun and knife hybrids as he bisected two Taken diagonally. He ducked under a Taken Captain's sword and stepped past the Corrupted Fallen.

Cayde launched himself from the ground and latched onto the Corrupted Captain's back. The Taken flailed its arms around in an attempt to throw him off but he put a stop to it by stabbing the blade of Vortimer-D into its neck, ending its life.

Jumping off the Taken, the Exo expelled the empty shells out of his as the Taken dispersed into mist. While still in the air, he briefly let go of his guns to take out fresh bullets for his guns before slamming them into their chambers. He gripped his guns and slit the throats of two Taken Acolytes as he landed to the ground.

Fully reloaded, Cayde resumed his symphony of death and eradicated the last of the Taken, leaving the area empty except for him and the lingering echoes of gunfire. The blades on his hand cannons retracted as he twirled them before holstering them.

When Summer presented the idea of combining a melee weapon with a gun, everyone in the Tower thought it was ridiculous and highly impractical to use in battle so it was immediately turned down and Summer didn't get the gunsword that she wanted.

But the Hunter Vanguard saw some merit to the concept.

With his style of duel-wielding his hand cannons, it was simpler to already have blades on the weapons still in his hands instead of switching them out for one of his knives so he personally customized his guns to have retractable blades at the bottom of the handle.

The hidden blades that he installed into his guns were thin enough to place them within the handle and light enough to not cause any notable difference in weight to throw his aim off.

Until now, he didn't get the chance to test his gunknives effectiveness but they worked out pretty well in the end.

As unbelievable as it sounded but maybe Summer was going somewhere with this gunsword idea of hers.

The Exo brushed the dust off his shoulder and walked at a leisurely pace to the next sector. Fireteam Nero had already cleared a good portion of the Dreadnaught before he came along but their progress became significantly quicker when he joined in on the Taken extermination.

Say what you want about him but he was very efficient when it came to work. It didn't matter if it was behind a desk or on the field of battle. When the Exo wanted something done personally, he gets it done _fast_.

"Don't you guys have anything else better to do than watch me work?" Cayde asked as he walked past the remaining members of Fireteam Nero with his inquiry being the only indication of him acknowledging their presence.

They were a thousand years too early if those two think that they can tail him without him noticing.

"Actually, sir, the next sector that you're going to is the last one we need to clear out," Prometheus-23 said sheepishly as he and Lux Sylphid fell into step behind him, "And we also wanted to see one of the legendary Vanguard in action, sir."

"And _damn_ , you didn't get the job by being a smartass," the Warlock gave the Hunter Exo an almost feral grin as she held a lit cigarette to her lips, "It's a fucking shame that you were taken off the frontlines."

The two Exos stopped to look at her with their expressions full of disbelief and betrayal (as expressful as two Exos can be). The Awoken was confused on why they would look at her like that before she comprehended what she said.

Fireteam Nero and Cayde-6 were on a _Taken_ ship full of _Taken_ and Lux just used the word 'taken' in a sentence.

"No, I didn't mean to make a pun!" Lux shrieked desperately as she flailed her arms around franticly while her cigarette fell to the floor where it was forgotten, "I AM NOT A PUN PERSON!"

Lux had an extreme loathing to bad jokes, especially puns. Her hatred for puns was increased exponentially when she found out that Summer loved to use bad puns at every opportunity. The Awoken may have developed a tolerance to puns after being in a team with Summer for years but she would still break out into a rage whenever the female Hunter was on a pun roll.

But now, she just made a bad pun despite how not deliberately it may be.

Her companions simply shook their heads in disappointment before they walked off without her. The Warlock blanched when she realized that she had made another unintentional pun.

"DAMN YOU, SUMMMMEEEEERRR!"

00000

AN:

It _Lux_ (pronounced as looks) like another person fell to the dark side of humor. I bet the Warlock might PUNch Summer when they see each other again.

All jokes aside, I'm considering to write a prequel on the adventures of Summer Rose as a Guardian after Remnant of a Rose is done but for now, here is a continuation of the previous omake.

Omake:

21\. A gun is a gun and a sword is a sword so stop annoying Banshee-44 and Lord Shaxx to make you a gunsword. Just where on Earth did you think that a weapon like that is practical at all.

22\. It is not appropriate to train new recruits how to dodge bullets by peppering them with a nearly endless volley of machine gun fire.

23\. For the Traveler's sake, please _knock_ _first_ before entering another person's quarters unannounced. We don't know what embarassing secret of Guardian Lux Sylphid that you accidently discovered but we hoped that you learned a lesson.

Guardian Lux Sylphid- We don't know what embarassing secret that Guardian Summer Rose accidently stumbled upon but it definitely does not justify setting the entire floor on fire with your Solar abilities to discipline your teammate.

24\. We openly encourage freedom of expression but we're having trouble interpreting you artwork. Just what is the rear end of dogs supposed to symbolize?

(You don't understand my vision! :( - Guardian Summer Rose)

25\. Please stop trying to jump over the Hellmouth with your Sparrow. Your teammates and Ghost are getting tired of reviving you everytime you fail.

26\. We would like to apologize and congratulate you for jumping over the Hellmouth. We sincerely thought you wouldn't be able to accomplish that feat.

27\. Alright, you made your point. Stop doing the jump all over again. Now, you're just showing off.

28\. You're now only allowed the standard eight hours of sleep everyday if you feel like taking a nap but _only eight hours_ a day. The last time that you were left unsupervised with your sleeping habits, you slept for almost an entire month.

Guardian Lux Sylphid- Yes, we agree that Guardian Summer Rose is a lot more amiable and civil while under the influence of alcohol but her combat efficiency has gone down by 87% while she's intoxicated so to our regret, she cannot be drunk all the time.

29\. Attaching a tether to a Sparrow and using a Cabal Phalanx's shield as a board was very creative of you. What we don't admire is how you used these as a way to surf the desert terrain of Mars. (AN: this one is from The Crimson Commando)

To all Guardians of the Tower- If you do wish to make desert surfing an official Guardian sport, you must select a representive who will be responsible for setting up the events and repelling Cabal forces from the chosen area for the stadium.

30\. No one wants to play card games while riding on Sparrows. It's never going to catch on.

31\. We know you put a lot of work on your report but a puppet show is _not_ the correct way to tell us your experiences inside the Vault of Glass.

32\. If you do decide to go trick-or-treating, please pick a costume that isn't an alien we're currently at war with. Those Guardians responded appropriately and will not be paying you reparation for your ruined Variks costume.

33\. It was not right to seek retribution from those Guardians for your destroyed costume by tying them to your jumpship and fly around the City with them still hanging on.

34\. When you spot an unidentified mass guarded by the enemy, contact the Vanguard first before charging their defenses. (AN: this one is from TehUnoman)

35\. Please stop using your puppy dog eyes to get yourself out of trouble.

(Insert Summer Rose's puppy dog eye stare here)

36\. Alright, you can still use them but only in moderation.

37\. No, you are not allowed to have a cybernetic arm even though we have the resources to make one so do not saw your own arm off again.

38\. That also applies to any other body part you plan on replacing with a cybernetic one.

39\. We know it is a futile effort but please, _please_ tone down on the puns. We're all getting tired of them.

Guardian Prometheus-23 – We know you only meant well but did you really have to show Guardian Summer Rose your collection of Disney movies, especially the musical ones?

40\. You actually have quite the singing voice but there is a time and place for everything. Do not break out into song while you're still in the midst of battle. Before and after a battle is fine but not during.


	21. But Her Thorns are Forever Sharp

AN:

A bit of warning: it's gonna get pretty dark at the end of this chapter.

00000

Chapter 21

Qrow was a very jaded and cynical man. He had seen the ugly side of the world and was forced to live through it almost every time he was sent on a mission from Ozpin. It was understandable that someone like him would resort to alcoholism as a means of coping, which explained his always drunkened state.

The scythe-master feared that if he were ever to stop drinking, then the collective hangovers and repressed memories would soon overwhelm him into a gibbering mess.

Hell, it nearly did happen when the male Branwen finally decided to put down the booze to hunt down the rogue Huntress that the Ozluminati (his nickname for Ozpin's secret circle) believed to be the False Maiden and Summer Rose's killer.

For the first time in years, Qrow was sober and he did not enjoy it in the least but he needed all of his wits clear if he wanted to bring Summer's killer to justice. Anyone who could have killed his former leader was not one to be taken lightly and he wasn't going to let his drunk-addled mind stop him from avenging his comrade.

Then he found out that the supposed False Maiden was actually Summer this whole time after she was accidently killed by her own daughter, Ruby. He felt horror and immense disgust with himself that he tried to kill one of his best friends but that was nothing compared to the guilt that he had for letting his dear niece do his job in his place.

After seeing the White Rose come back to life in a flashy spectacle, everything went downhill from there as he had to fight off an alien invasion with his damaged sword.

Qrow had fought and killed a lot of things in his life, ranging from the various species of Grimm to the most radical of Faunus from the White Fang but aliens were something that he never thought he would have to face in his entire career.

Not only was Summer still alive so to speak (he still had trouble comprehending the whole resurrection thing), she lost her memories and had been fighting aliens for nearly a decade.

After learning shit like that, the black reaper would have gotten shit-faced drunk but there were more important things to do than drown himself in booze like trying to comfort Taiyang when Summer rejected him.

"There, there, Tai," the scythe-master patted his friend on the back as the brawny man quietly wept, "She'll remember you eventually. You just came on to her too strong."

Oh how the tables had turned.

It was usually Taiyang doing the consoling as Qrow would cry over being rejected by another hot chick that he tried to hook up with but now, it was the other way around.

Summer didn't really reject the elder yellow dragon per se but pushing aside his advances and teleporting away could be considered a rejection in anyone's books.

Or at least for Qrow.

And also, Tai kinda stole his flask and was chugging down the contents in such a way that an experience drinker like Qrow would have been impressed if that wasn't his booze that the blonde man was drinking.

00000

"Yo Jimmy! I'm here for the important thing that you wanted me for," Summer Rose loudly announced as she made her presence known to the other people in the room.

Their reaction to her abrupt appearance was nearly instantaneous as bullets flew towards her. Not at all bothered by this, the Guardian seeminly vanished and left a purple haze where she previously was. The miasma of Void briefly took the general shape of her form before it was dispersed by the many projectiles slicing through it and into the wall behind it.

"You must be so glad to see me, Jimmy," Summer remarked sarcastically as she reappeared next to where the Void miasma formed, having dodged General Ironwood's shots with a Shadestep.

If anyone who was familiar with Blake Belladonna were to see Summer perform a Shadestep, they would have mistaken it for the cat Faunus' semblance. The Shadestep and Belladonna's semblance had major differences but to the outside observer, they would look almost the same.

The Shadestep of the Nightstalker class may not have the same range as her Blink (or semblance as she recently learned it actually was) but it was faster than her teleportation by maybe a split second. It might not mean much to regular cronies but against superior beings like Oryx, it made all the difference.

In spite of his immense size, the Taken King could actually move faster than she could think to teleport thus making it necessary for her to master the Shadestep.

"How did you get in here?" Jimmy firmly demanded as he put his white, ornately designed hand cannon away, "There was no way you could have gotten inside without the security system and guards noticing."

"Your security's pretty good but I've snuck past better," the Guardian smirked cheekily before taking a seat. She wasn't bothered by the man's attempt to shoot her since she was used to getting reactions like that when she snuck up on people, especially when they thought that they were in a secure room alone.

The Atlesian general did indeed have guards and cameras pretty much everywhere but she managed to evade all of them with no problem due to the aid of her Nightstalker abilities. She even told Drei to not disable the cameras to make things more challenging for her.

If she wasn't being too complacent back on that Atlas military outpost, then not even the Atlas Specialist, Winter Schnee would have known of her presence before the female Hunter had already left so Summer resolved to never have the Ghost make sneaking around easier for her if she could already do it on her own.

A good Hunter never made the same mistake twice.

The Guardian had snuck out of Team JNPR's room while their hyperactive member, Nora Valkyrie was distracted and made her way to the room that was very similar to the one where she told Ozzy and Jimmy her story before the Vex invasion.

Summer expected for Ozpin to be here with them but he was being shown on a video screen instead along with three important looking old farts.

That must be the Council of Vale and they did not look happy to see her, which was something that a lot of important officials back on Earth did.

It was like she never left the Tower.

"Summer Rose," one of the councilmen said with a slightly raised voice as if that was capable of scaring her, "You caused us no end of grief for what you did at the Atlesian military facility. The Atlas Council has been clamoring that you pay recompense for what you stole and-"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there," Summer interjected with a bored expression on her face as she raised her hand to signal for a stop, "I got five things I want to tell you."

"One, I am not apologizing or giving back what I stole," she said with her index finger pointing up before raising another finger, "Two, you can try to imprison me but you'll only be wasting my time since I would just elude capture or escape from whatever prison you throw me in."

"Three, I may be a former resident of Vale but I answer to another higher authority so don't think you can order me around like one of your lapdogs," she raised a third finger before lifting the fourth finger, "Four, we have more important things to worry about than some theft."

"Now, see here-" the councilman bellowed after being so blatantly disrespected but the Guardian had enough of old men who thought that they knew better than everyone.

The Guardian only knew them for a few seconds but she was certain that they were not suited to handle a war. These old men had no idea what it was really like outside of the walls. They never had to put their lives on the line while others fought and died for them.

She might be biased but she believed that the Vanguard back at the Tower were much more capable leaders than these councilmen. Each member had proven themselves on the field of battle countless of times and truly deserved their positions so Summer respected them in her own special way.

"And finally five, I don't need your help to fight the Vex but you definitely need _mine_ ," Summer said with a tone of finality.

That was also true.

The White Rose had wiped out entire armies of Vex on her own and had also singlehandedly survived several incursions into their most secured sanctum like the Black Garden and the Vault of Glass.

If she didn't have an entire civilization and a newly rediscovered family to look after, then she could endure the Vex's constant attempts to kill her long enough to either wait for rescue from the Tower or find a way back to the Sol system herself.

She had been through a similar situation back on Oryx's Dreadnaught with her only means of transportation destroyed, no transmat, no back up and a whole lot of things wanting to rip her apart limb from limb. She was able to survive more or less intact.

The Guardian didn't need the four kingdoms of Remnant to help her survive but they needed her for their continued existence if the councilmen only chose to cooperate with her.

Even though she could do what she claimed, the Vale Council did not look convinced so she had Drei show them the full scale of the Vex forces on Remnant. The Ghost projected a map of Remnant and highlighted keypoints where the Vex had already set up a stronghold for each kingdom.

The Guardian finally got around to look through what was on the Mind core and even though it didn't say the exact reason why they were on Remnant, it told her the amount of Vex units deployed as the advance forces.

The Vex had not been on Remnant for long but it was long enough for them to construct several Transfer Gates with Gatelords and Cyclops indubitably there to guard them.

The time manipulating cyborgs were so obsessed with order that they became painfully predictable for someone who was already familiar with them.

The councilmen were rendered silent by the massive amount of troops that the Vex managed to accumulate in such a short amount of time. The only ones that weren't as perturbed were the Guardian, the Headmaster of Beacon and the general of Atlas since they were already aware of what they were facing.

"As you can see, Ms. Rose has valuable intel on our newest enemy, the Vex," Ironwood spoke up, face stoic as ever, "Such as locations of their strongholds and their list of possible targets."

"I suppose you have already taken the time to go through the files concerning Summer Rose's whereabouts for the past years," Ozpin added as he steepled his fingers in front of his face, "Her value as an ally outweighs whatever offenses that she had amassed upon her return to Remnant."

"As if we are to believe something preposterous as the extraterrestial," one of the councilmen scoffed scornfully but his tone had the undertone of doubt within it. But the fact that the old man was trying to find a way to ignore what was wrong slightly pissed off the Guardian.

"You must be going senile if you're trying to deny everything," Summer stated, silver eyes hardening to resemble steel, "Especially when the proof showed up on your doorstep and started murdering the citizens that _you're_ supposed to lead."

Standing up from her seat, she glared piercingly at the Vale Council, successfully cowing them as they visibly recoiled as if burned, "Don't waste my time for something petty like my supposed 'crimes against the four kingdoms'."

"I'll leave you guys a copy of this just in case you old farts decide to take your heads out of your asses and do something beneficial for the people," she added as she walked out of the room and silently ordered Drei to leave them a copy of what they learned from the Mind core, "My number is 6391556613. Call me when you want to talk about something that's actually important."

Summer didn't turn to see the reactions of the Vale Council, General Jimmy or Professor Ozpin as the door slid shut behind her.

00000

With the combined might of Fireteam Nero's remaining members and Cayde-6, they cleared out the last sector in no time.

It had been said before but Cayde was really, _really_ good at his job. Summer Rose was considered to be the fastest Hunter but even she would be hard pressed to match the Hunter Vanguard's methodical efficiency in wiping out hordes of enemies quickly.

The Guardians never thought it was possible but they had successfully eradicated every Taken on the Dreadnaught and caused the Darkness corrupted beings to extinction (as far as they were concerned at least).

But the unsanctioned taskforce still had one problem left.

"So how the hell are we supposed to fix the weapons again?" Lux asked as Fireteam Nero and the Hunter Vanguard stood in Dreadnaught's bridge, which also happened to be Oryx's throne room.

The Warlock never thought she would return here like this. Her fingers subconsciously tightened around Hawkmoon as she remembered Fireteam Nero battling against the Taken King himself.

Oryx was a monster in every sense of the word and he was on a whole other league of his own. His son, Crota was nothing compared to the Taken King in all aspects. Lux Sylphid and Prometheus-23 would have been killed by the Hive god if it wasn't for Summer dealing the final blow.

"That is where I come in," a female echoing voice said behind them as Fireteam Nero spun around to face a woman with their weapons aimed at her.

The woman was dressed in a robe and had a strip of cloth wrapped around her eyes. But three green eyes very similar to a member of the Hive could be seen glowing through the blindfold as black ethereal veins flowed out from under it like tears.

"Eris, glad you could join us," Cayde-6, the only one unsurpised with her sudden arrival, greeted the former Guardian as the Warlock and the Titan lowered their guns.

"Of course, I will not miss the opportunity to repay Guardian Rose for she has done for me," Eris said, striding forward before stopping in front of the Hunter Exo, "And you still owe me a new ship, Cayde."

Eris Morn was the Tower's best expert on all things Hive and it would make sense that Cayde recruited her to their unsanctioned operation. Her aid allowed Summer Rose to disable the Dreadnaught's weapons in the first place.

"Well, what do you think of this old girl?" the horned Exo inquired as gestured around them before taking out a Hunter knife and held it out to her, hilt-first, "It may be second hand and the weapons are busted but if you fix those up, it'll be good as new."

"But before I could replace the necrotic conduits of the weapon systems, a certain ritual must be completed," the former Guardian said as she took the offered knife and walked past the Hunter Vanguard before stopping in front of the large pedestal where Oryx once stood.

"The Hive just love their damn rituals, don't they?" Lux snorted as her helmet dematerialized so she could place a cigarette in her mouth.

"Just what is the significance of this ritual, Ms. Morn," Prometheus asked, watching the woman curiously as the Hive expert began to carve out a series of glyphs on the floor with one of Cayde's knives.

"There is a ritual in place for one to earn control over the Dreadnaught," she explained as she continued to engrave the Hive pentagram.

"Think of it as a failsafe after Oryx kicked the bucket," Cayde simplified it, "He didn't want anyone else taking control over his ship so he left a pretty nasty security to prevent that from happening."

"How nasty are we talking about here?" the Awoken inquired after exhaling a puff of smoke from her mouth.

"Nasty enough to completely wipe out the most elite members of the House of Wolves when they attempted to take over," the Hunter Exo said seriously before shrugging, "But other than that, beats me."

Even though the House of Wolves were no longer as powerful as they were before with Skolas dead, its Fallen members were still a very dangerous threat to anyone that crossed paths with them. The last members being desperate enough to attempt to take the Dreadnaught for their own was no surprise to Fireteam Nero but for them to fail so bad, it did not bode well for the Guardians trying to do the same.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," the Warlock grumbled before taking a deep drag from her cigarette.

"Not how I would say it but you are right nonetheless, Lux," the Exo Titan said as he took out and cocked the 4th Horseman.

00000

"Was it really wise to smartmouth the leaders of a kingdom?" Drei asked as Summer did some maintenance on the Cloud Errant.

The jumpship had taken some superficial damages during the Vex invasion. They were not enough to affect its flight but it would be better to take care of it now than later.

"Probably not," she admitted as she used a belt sander to buff out the scorch marks, "But it's not like it was the first time I've done it."

"You were smartmouthing the Awoken Queen's brother, not the Queen herself," the Ghost felt the need to point out.

"Hey, with that haircut and attitude, Uldren Sov might as well be the queen," she shrugged as she did the finishing touches on the Cloud Errant.

The Guardian didn't exactly start out on the right foot with Uldren Sov of the Awoken when she placed the man in an armlock and nearly broke his arm after he pulled a knife on her on their first meeting.

Summer was mature enough to admit that she was the one at fault so she was quick to apologize for her actions. She had acted very rashly when she saw Fallen step out from behind the throne. Fortunately for Summer, Queen Mara Sov seemed to be more amused by the Guardian manhandling her brother than insulted so the White Rose didn't inadvertently start a war between the Guardians and the Awoken.

As far as first impressions went, it could have been better. It was still a whole lot better than how she met Ruby again. Her daughter freaking impaled her! Summer had wounded Uldren Sov's pride more than his body while Ruby would have been downright traumatized. It would be extremely hard to move past that just yet, considering how it had happened yesterday a few hours before the Vex fiasco.

"I know. You already said that right to his face."

"Yeah, whatever," she said flippantly as she began to review some recent files on the White Fang. With Drei so close to the control center on the ship, it was child's play for him to hack into the Atlesian military's database to access whatever information that they had on the terrorist group.

Remnant didn't have time to deal with a bunch of radicals so Summer thought it would be best to nip it in the bud before they could become a hindrance to the war effort against the Vex.

It would be kind of like eliminating the most violent Fallen Houses for the Guardian but if the White Fang agreed to offer their aid to defend Remnant, then she had no problems with that.

"It looks like they got the supposed mastermind behind the White Fang in custody," she noted with a small frown, "A Roman Torchwick."

The Guardian didn't believe for a second that someone like Roman Torchwick was the true mastermind behind the Breach. His file said that he was a master thief, not a terrorist so why would he risk himself for an attack like that when there was nothing for him to gain except imprisonment?

Seeing that the flamboyant man was on the ship right now, Summer decided to go pay him a visit. She dropped down from the Cloud Errant and was about to go the brig when she froze.

There were reports that said he had been confronted by Ruby Rose on three separate occasions and each time, he had tried to kill her. On the latest one, Roman had come close to killing the young girl before her team and the Huntsman escorting them came to her rescue.

From what Summer read of the thief, Torchwick was a man who held grudges very seriously and would not hesitate to pay them back tenfold. The list of his victims was a testament to that and it looked like he wanted to add the young Rose to that list.

"Uh oh," the Ghost said as he noticed what his Guardian had read to set her off. He didn't think that he would ever see the female Hunter be enraged two days in a row.

Summer Rose was not someone who could be angered easily but the thought of little Ruby being danger was more than enough to drive her off the edge.

Her posture seemingly relaxed as she continued her trek to Roman Torchwick's cell. For those who were not familiar with the Guardian, they would have mistaken her mood to be very calm as if she was in a tranquil state of mind.

But it was the exact opposite.

Her anger was not the typical sort. She did not explode into a raging inferno like most people. No, her rage could be described as cold as the darkness of space. Seeing the normally fun-loving young Guardian become so emotionless was more terrifying than her bursting out into anger.

She effortlessly walked past the guards to the brig unnoticed and proceeded to render the soldiers standing guard to the thief's cell unconscious before they even realized what hit them.

"Drei, passcode now," she ordered evenly.

"Right away, Guardian," he said as he promptly did so.

"Lock the doors. I don't want any interruptions," she said before inputting the passcode on the keypad. The door slid opened, revealing Roman Torchwick sitting in the small cell that was similar to what Summer was in yesterday.

Roman had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye and he wore a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, and black gloves with buckled sleeves. He was missing his signature bowler hat but Summer couldn't care less.

"Can't a man get some privacy in his own cell for god's sa-" the thief was about to quip but stopped himself as the helmet-cladded Guardian stood imposingly over him, "Who are you supposed to be? Another one of the general's lapdogs?"

The man didn't know how wrong he was but Summer didn't bother to correct him.

"Tell me everything you know about the White Fang and your employer," she demanded impassively, "Or else."

"Or else what?" Roman challenged audaciously with his arms spread wide open mockingly, "You'll send me to bed without supper."

The Guardian's hand lashed out and grabbed the taller man by the throat before lifting him up with one hand.

"Or else you're gonna have a bad time," she replied as her silver eyes began to glow menacingly behind the visor of her helmet.

"Really? 'Gonna have a bad time'?" the thief managed to say despite being held by his throat, "Is that really the best you can come up with?"

"No, this is," Summer said, lifting her free hand as it burst into flames as hot as the sun. Roman widened his green eyes in horror at what she was planning to do.

"W-wait! Maybe we can talk about thi-" he tried to weasel himself out of this situation but it was already too late for him as she placed her blazing hand firmly on the side of his face, forever burning the imprint of her hand on his cheek.

Roman Torchwick's screams of agony echoed across the hallways as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The rest of the captured White Fang trembled in dread at what the woman was doing to the thief, as they feared that they might be next.

The imprisoned Faunus was regretting every single choice that led them to joining the White Fang. What was the point of fighting for what you believed in when the enemy had something like _that thing_ on their beck and call?

00000

AN:

Summer may be OoC at that last part but Roman Torchwick had attempted to kill her daughter, Ruby several times now. As the Vex had already figured out, that's a very bad idea.

Don't worry, he'll still live…hopefully.

Also, don't bother trying to call the number that Summer gave to Ozpin, Ironwood and the Vale Council. It's not a real number (as far as I know).

To lighten the mood, here is the next section of the list.

Omake:

41\. As much as we appreciate your newfound admiration for the Traveler, we ask that you would refrain from raising your arms and shouting "PRAISE THE LIGHT!" in the courtyard. You're beginning to scare the new Guardians.

42\. No, you cannot install a prototype software of a salvaged Warmind into your Ghost to improve his "math skills". We don't care if your Ghost, Drei was the one that suggested it.

43\. Vanguard Ikora Rey- You need to learn to stop being so serious and be more creative in your approach on how to deal with your problems.

44\. You are prohibited from tampering with the missives without authorization from the Vanguard. If you do it again, you will be forced to sit still and silently next to Cryptarch Master Rahool for no less than 48 hours.

(#41-44 are from Sanity07.)

45\. Having your Ghost play the song, "Can't Touch This" while your Fireteammate, Guardian Prometheus-23 uses his Hammer of Sol was only funny the first time. Stop it.

(#45 is from Sgt. Nolisten)

46\. We know that Osiris is most likely a sociopath by now and we no longer have control over his actions but it should be stated that you should not break the chest he offers to the Guardians into pieces and start a scavenger hunt.

47\. No, we don't care that you left the weapons inside the chest alone. It's still not wise to provoke a homocidal former Guardian.

48\. Oh, one of his disciples actually gave you permission for you to do that. Nevermind then.

(#46-48 are from TehUnoman)

49\. Even though they are robots, it doesn't mean all Exos know how to do the robot dance properly.

50\. We know you have only recently obtained your Nightstalker abilities but please refrain from sneaking up on everyone while you're still in the Tower. Guardians tend to have a loose trigger finger when they are taken by surprise. You should know this by now.

51\. Yes, it was quite impressive that you managed to scale the side of the Tower with minimal equipment but please desist from doing so again.

52\. We know you had permission from Lord Saladin to borrow that axe but please remember to return it after you're done with it.

53\. Please refrain from using your Sparrow indoors.

54\. You may be an excellent singer but your musical talents does not seem to extend to any instrument.

55\. It is not appropriate to base jump off of the Traveler even though you had a parachute with you.

56\. Please inform the Vanguard beforehand if you plan on bringing the Fallen Variks of the House of Judgment to tour the City.

57\. We all know that you are an exemplary cook but there is no need to upstage every renowned chef in the City.

58\. We do not want to hear the cries of "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!" coming from your quarters again. The subsequent cries of "Wait, it's not supposed to be alive. AAAH, KILL IT WITH FIRE!" also does not help your case.

59\. Number 58 also applies to "AAAH, FIRE MAKES IT WORSE!"

60\. We do not wish to know what kind of abomination that you have created or how you managed to create it in the first place but dispose of it and its remains immediately.


	22. And Too Dangerous to Touch

AN:

I only just discovered this recently but my story, Remnant of a Rose has inspired Otaku-Nation666 to write his own story called Fabulae Parcae. You should definitely go check it out. It's actually pretty good and it's a shame that it doesn't have as much popularity.

Also, it looks like I have one member reviewer who did not like my story at all and has actively flamed me. I won't say who since you can just see for yourself in the reviews but I ask the fans of my story to not start a flame war with this person. It's just not worth the effort if he/she doesn't like Remnant of a Rose.

I have said this before but this story is just a hobby that I write in my free time. I didn't expect it to gain so much popularity nor do I care how much people like it. But for anyone who doesn't like where this story is going, you can simply stop reading it and find another story to catch your interests or maybe even write your own story. Frankly, I don't care what you do. No one is forcing you guys to read it.

With that said, I will still continue to work on Remnant of a Rose, no matter how many flames I get for it.

One last thing, to the guest reviewer that had asked about Ruby's Crescent Rose, I will eventually get to that part. There's no need to rush me for it but if people keep pestering me about it, I might pull off another dick move like when Ruby accidently killed her own mother so Do. Not. Test. Me.

00000

Chapter 22

There were many reason why most of the Vanguard considered banishing Summer Rose from the Tower. Her constant acts of immaturity had put herself and others at risk numerous times and had caused a lot of damage to the City during her whole career as a Guardian.

If the White Rose had only decided to become serious for at least once in her second life, then the Vanguard would not have regular meetings, concerning the young Hunter's continued stay in the Last City.

And then the incident of Crota's reawakening happened. Summer was assigned to assist Fireteam Jasper on several ventures to Earth's moon. She didn't become an official member of the Fireteam and was more like an unwelcomed tag-along for the members of Fireteam Jasper since the young Hunter hadn't been a Guardian for a whole year yet and they thought that she would only drag them down.

But Summer had quickly proven them wrong as she had displayed a natural talent on the battlefield. It turned out that _they_ were the ones dragging her down and they began to resent her prowess.

Even though Fireteam Jasper disliked her very presence, Summer did not feel any contempt for them in the slightest and had treated them with kindness in her own eccentric ways, which actually widened the divide between them more than lessen it.

But when it seemed like the members of Fireteam Jasper were about to warm up to her, Crota had came along and slaughtered them with Summer Rose being the only survivor.

Seeing her dead comrades, the normally happy-go-lucky Summer snapped and looked upon the Hive god with silver eyes so dead that it made the Son of Oryx pause.

Her Ghost, Drei could have sworn that the Hive Prince almost looked _afraid_ but he set it aside at the time as his Guardian fought Crota to a standstill before slaying him with his own sword.

He did, however kept a recording of the confrontation and had presented it to the Vanguard as their report.

To the Vanguard, Summer looked very similar to another Hunter who had a very infamous reputation. One that had caused death and destruction to both the Light and the Darkness before he was finally killed for good.

At that time, she had greatly reminded them of Dredgen Yor, the creator of Thorn before his betrayal to the Tower.

It may be too soon to confirm but the implications were very worrying to the Vanguard so they decided to keep a close watch on the young Guardian. Luckily for everyone, the instances where Summer snapped were few and far in between and they only happened in the most extreme situations like with Crota and the Taken King, Oryx.

Even though Summer giving in to her wrath was exceedingly rare, they were considered to be legendary and every Guardian pitied whatever was the target of her fury.

If they knew that a man by the name of Roman Torchwick was the latest target of Summer's wrath and what he had done to earn her ire, then they would have swiftly killed the man themselves before Summer could get to him because it would have been considered a mercy kill for the poor guy.

00000

"YOU CRAZY BITCH!" Roman roared in agony as he cradled the left side of his face and knelt on the floor, "YOU FUCKING BURNED MY FACE!"

The thief felt hands holding the sides of his head before he was suddenly pulled down and a knee slammed into his jaw. The now scarred man reeled back and spat out a wad of blood along with a tooth. Disoriented from the blow to his head, he placed a hand on the floor to steady himself but that turned out to be a mistake as a knife buried itself into his hand, pinning it to the ground.

"AAH!" he let a cry before a boot stomped on the pommel of the knife and pushed the blade in deeper, "AAAAAAHHH!"

"Ruby Rose," his tormentor said, still using the same empty tone that she used on him earlier, "That's the name of the girl you tried to kill."

The orange haired man raised his head to glare at the masked Huntress. His rage and defiance flared as he saw his reflection on the visor of her helmet.

There on the left side of his face was the burnt imprint of her hand. For a grievious injury like that, most would say that he was lucky to still retain the functions of his face but being a vain man taking pride in his good looks, Roman gritted his teeth before screaming in unrestrained rage at the Huntress.

"WHAT DOES THAT LITTLE _BITCH_ HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS!?"

Slowly and deliberately, the Huntress reach for her helmet and with a short hiss that signaled the escape of pressurized air, took it off, revealing her face to the self-proclaimed master thief.

Roman's anger immediately dissipated at the sight of the woman's face and was replaced by complete and utter terror. His fear had left him so numb that he no longer paid heed to the burns on his face or the knife embedded in his hand as the face of Little Red blankly gazed down upon him.

The man was used to seeing the young Huntress-in-training's face so full of life despite how much he disliked her but to see someone with the same face stare at him so emotionlessly -so _dead_ \- filled him with dread more than Cinder Fall ever could.

"My name," she began, sending chills coursing throughout his entire body, "Is Summer Rose."

Oh shit.

"Notice the family resemblence?" she added, not once showing any trace of emotions in her tone. If Torchwick didn't know any better, he might assume that this woman didn't really care about anything but his very instincts were screaming at him that he was in total danger and what she said merely confirmed it.

Roman Torchwick was in so much deep shit that it wasn't even funny anymore but if he was one thing, he was a survivor and he knew damn well that failure to cooperate with this established relative of Little Red would not be beneficial to him in the slightest so the man only had one thing left to do to save himself.

"I'LL TALK!" he yelled in desperation as he subconsciously tried to push himself against the wall but the knife pinning his hand to the floor prevented him from doing so, "I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! The White Fang, Cinder Fall, EVERYTHING! Just _please_ don't hurt me!"

For what seemed like an eternity, the woman stared down at Roman with no signs on her face telling him that she was considering his pleas. It was unnerving to see someone with absolutely no emotions on their face.

Just when Roman was beginning to lose hope, the Huntress kicked the knife embedded in his hand, roughly removing it from his hand and the floor where it then rebounded off the wall and into her waiting hand.

If it was any other situation, he would have made a comment of the Huntress showing off but considering that knife was just inside of him earlier, the thief wisely chose not to say anything about it lest he would have another hole poked into him.

Roman held his bloody hand close to his chest and tried to quell the bleeding as much as he can as the woman lowered herself into a crouch to look him in the eyes, terrified green making contact with lifeless silver.

"Now talk," she ordered blankly as if indifferent with what he had to say but he was certain that there would be dire consequences if he did not comply.

Roman Torchwick was no squealer but in the face of this woman, _this monster_ , he eagerly spilled his guts before the insane Huntress could do it to him _literally._

00000

Just as Summer Rose deduced, Roman Torchwick was simply another piece on the board and didn't know the full extent of the true mastermind's plan but what he knew gave her enough to fill some of the puzzle on her own.

The man was a smokescreen to hide the real person in charge and to make the people think that the problem was dealt with but in reality, it had only just begun.

While Roman rotted in this cell, the one pulling the strings, Cinder Fall, was still out there doing Traveler knows what.

But the Vex invasion had thrown a huge wrench in her plans. Even Roman who was trapped in his cell could tell so the Guardian was somewhat assured that the mastermind won't try to pull anything for now.

In conclusion, the thief didn't know how to find Cinder Fall but the Guardian would have to make do for now. Summer will find this Cinder eventually even if she had to go through every single White Fang base stationed in Vale.

"You made the smart choice, Torchwick," Summer told him as she put her helmet back on, "Don't make the dumb one by trying to run away after this. It would just make things more difficult for you when I find you again."

The man audibly gulped before nodding his head wildly. There was no doubt that the woman wasn't bluffing in the slightest. She had already proven how far that she was willing to go and Roman did not wish to test it even further.

She turned on her heel and walked out of the cell before looking at a seemingly empty corner of the room, "That goes for you too."

The corner that she was looking at started to form literal cracks in the air before shattering like glass to reveal a diminutive multi-colored girl, pressing her back against the wall like a small frightened and cornered animal.

Drei informed his Guardian that the illusionist girl arrived a few moments after she did and saw everything Summer did to interrogate Torchwick. The girl must have been so overcome with fear that she didn't think to leave while the White Rose was busy with her colleague.

From the look on the girl's face, she was hoping that the female Hunter wouldn't notice her presence but much like her illusion, it crumbled into pieces. As her flight response was about to kick in, Neopolitan heard her Scroll began to ring, nearly giving her a heart attack.

"You should get that," the Guardian suggested as she stared at the multi-coloured girl with disinterest, "It might be important."

Not taking her eyes off the white cloaked Huntress, Neo pulled out her Scroll and glanced at the screen with her peripheral vision. Her heart halted its beat for a moment as the device almost slipped out of her shaking hand.

There on the screen of her Scroll were the words: "It _is_ important- Summer Rose".

"I'll be in touch," the Guardian brandished her own Scroll with the screen displaying Neo's number. Drei was able to get in close enough to scan the illusionist girl's Scroll for her contact details and had subtly sent them to his Guardian's HUD, "Remember to reply when I contact you."

Afraid that she would be next, the now pale face and eyed girl franticly nodded her head in understanding. Neopolitan was absolutely certain that she couldn't defeat the warrior of Light in battle and now she just discovered that she couldn't hope to escape the White Rose either.

"Now scram," Summer told the girl who immediately disappeared in a white flash. The Guardian wasn't sure if the girl could really teleport or simply used her illusions to escape but it was a useful technique to have if one was in a pinch.

Now with that out of the way, she pressed a button on the keypad to Torchwick's cell and the door slid closed, casting the one behind it in darkness. She then proceeded to walk out of the brig like nothing happened and the moment she left the room, she came face to face with a group of engineers and soldiers that were trying to force the door open.

They stared at Summer for only a split second before she engaged her stealth cloak, making them stare around in confusion. As she silently stepped past the Atlesian personnel, they dismissed her as a trick to the mind and rushed forward into the room to survey the condition of the prisoners.

Once the Guardian was far away enough from the brig, she disengaged her stealth cloak and took out her Scroll. She had set the Scroll on silent mode so it wouldn't disrupt her… _chat_ with Torchwick. She had several missed calls and a message from both Ozpin and Ironwood to call back.

Summer took out a coin to decide who she should call first, "Heads for Ozpin because he's the Headmaster of Beacon and tails for Ironwood because he's an ass."

With that said, she tossed the coin up and watched it spun through the air before catching it and slamming it to the back of her hand. She lifted her hand to reveal that the coin had landed on tails.

"I guess I'm calling Jimmy first," she said as she tapped the dial button on her Scroll and waited for the cyborg to pick up. It took a single ring before the call was initiated.

"Summer, where were you? We have a situation at the-"

"It's taken care of," the Guardian interrupted him, already having an idea on this situation was about, "The prisoners are still secured and I have obtained crucial intel on the White Fang and the one pulling the strings behind them."

"How did you-" the general was about to ask before he stopped himself in realization, "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one that locked my men out of the brig and silenced the alarms."

" _Smart man,"_ Summer smirked, _"But he was only half-right."_

"Doesn't matter. Do you want the intel or not?" she confirmed his inquiry without really answering properly.

"I do but shouldn't we be focusing on the Vex first?"

"Jimmy, you know just as well as I do that the White Fang would become a big hindrance to the war effort if we don't deal with them soon," she retorted, "I could possibly take care of them all by myself but I'm only one person and I can't be everywhere at once."

The Guardian could handle a confrontation with the terrorist group but it was not a guarantee that she could capture or eliminate all of the White Fang's leaders without a few slipping from the web. She could take out the head but there might someone ready to take their place just in case so the best solution was to capture as many White Fang members as possible and Summer needed the Atlesian military's help to do that.

"I already have a list of White Fang hideouts for me to strike," Summer continued, taking the cyborg's silence as confirmation, "I'll take out the ones in charge first and then as many as I can before your men move in to apprehend the rest."

"When do you wish to begin our assault?" Ironwood asked as the Guardian stopped in front of a very familiar room. The door had been sealed off but her Ghost easily disabled the lock as the door swung open to show her that it was the very same room where she jumped out the broken window. She approached the window and stood in front of the spot next to the gaping hole.

"As soon as you mobilize your troops," she said as she reared back her leg before launching a devastating kick to the window, creating another hole right next to the first one. Thorn's curse had affected the entire glass wall, not just section that she shot so the whole thing was brittle enough to shatter with a strong blow.

"Was that really necessary, Guardian?" Drei spoke up, mentally wishing that he had hands so he could use them to facepalm. Naturally, the Ghost's comment went ignored.

"I'll contact you when I reach the first base," Summer told the general before she hurled herself off the ship.

The Guardian's white cape whipped around like flapping of wings as rush of wind pushed against her armour. She spread her arms and legs out to control her fall. She let lull of gravity force her towards the earth before spotting a Bullhead somewhere below her.

Seeing her opportunity, she pressed her arms against her side, straightened her legs and aimed herself for the aircraft so that she would dive towards it before it passed her by. She stretched out her hands as she neared her target. Her hands managed to find their marks, forcefully grabbing on to the tail of the bullhead and creating a mighty stop to her descent.

Many would consider catching an aircraft in midair to stop their fall to be both insane and amazing (but mostly the former) but to Summer Rose, it was Tuesday.

The Guardian had already taken into account that her own strength being supplemented by terminal velocity would cause the bullhead to fly out of control if she used to stop her fall completely so she flipped herself around the tail to sort of not throw it off completely before letting go, now flinging herself towards a building.

But she still wouldn't reach it.

Righting herself in midair, Summer materialized her Sparrow under her and her butt placed itself firmly on the seat before she set the thrusters to maximum overdrive, propelling her and the vehicle at breakneck speeds. The bottom of the Sparrow scrapped against the roof of the building before levitating itself back up into an appropriate height off the floor.

"Still got it," Summer said to herself as she rode her Sparrow over the rooftops of the buildings.

Her landing strategy may be too dramatic but the Guardian needed to unwind after her losing control of her temper. Even the White Rose got scared of herself whenever she became enraged like that.

00000

Summer dismounted from her Sparrow a couple blocks away from the first hideout. She made the rest of the way on foot as she traversed the rooftops. There were also sentries stationed on several rooftops but the experienced Hunter saw them a mile away and avoided their watch with ease.

Most Hunters would have opted to knock out the sentries but her Hunter mentor, Cayde-6 had taught her that lookouts were supposed to give reports regularly and would eventually switch guards after their shifts were over. Unless Summer knew when the guards were supposed to report to their superiors and when the next shift came, it was better to circumvent them entirely so there would less chance for them to alert their comrades.

It may mean that Summer had more people to deal with later on but she would have enough time to complete her objective before her presence was made known to the enemy. Considering who her target was, she was going to require a lot of time and preparation to pull this off successfully without any needless conflict with the target.

Summer had three objectives that she wanted to accomplish here. First, cut off communications so they wouldn't be able to alert the other hideouts. Second, secure the stolen Dust and other smuggled weapons to armed the military. And third, kill the Faunus known as Adam Taurus.


	23. The Beautiful Rose Slays the Beast

AN:

OK, I got some good suggestions for the weapon upgrades of Team RWBY but I won't officially confirm which ones I picked until we get to the part where Summer helps Ruby fix Crescent Rose.

Also, I haven't played the Iron Lords DLC yet but I have heard of some of the new content like being able to customize the color and design of your weapons. A little spoiler but I will be making use of that particular feature.

00000

Chapter 23

Adam Taurus was a real piece of work. That was what Summer Rose had learned from the Atlesian military's database and Roman Torchwick's own observation of the man in question.

Known for his bloodthirsty methods, the bull Faunus had left piles of corpses in his wake in his misconceived perception of justice. The number of innocent people that he had killed for his so-called 'noble' cause greatly outweighed the number of assassinated corrupt officials that actually deserved what was coming for them.

The Guardian figured that Taurus must have been a good man in the past but it appeared that he had let his rage and his thirst for revenge consume him, leaving him but a shadow of what he once was.

Even though it was her intended goal to kill the bull Faunus, Summer believed that there was still a chance for anyone to change for the better so she decided to spy on the man to see if he deserved that second chance. If there were enough Light within his soul, she would spare his life.

But as she eavesdropped on the White Fang meeting, her resolve to kill Adam Taurus strengthened.

"The Councils has officially declared that Remnant is in a state of war with these androids, the Vex," she heard a White Fang member, possibly a lieutenant from his custom designed mask, say to Taurus, "And that the Vytal festival has been cancelled."

The White Fang's base was an abandoned warehouse (how cliché) and it was child's play for her to get inside without detection with how many unguarded entrances there were. Even with Faunus' enhanced senses and nightvision, they had yet to realize that she was here, which spoke how poorly trained the grunts were.

The Eliksni also had the same advantages as the Faunus when it came to their superior senses since the Fallen were a carnivorous race of predators but from the moment that they could walk, they were trained to hone their senses to the point that it was nearly impossible for them to be taken by surprise.

Summer may be very good at being stealthy but even she wouldn't have been able to stay hidden this long against the Fallen and by this point, it would have turned into a firefight.

That and because many people often forgot to look up. She had tied a knife to each of the soles of her boots and held a knife each hand so that she could cling unto the walls and ceilings like some kind of human spider creature. Although, there was the issue of producing the sound of crackling plaster whenever she stuck her knife into the ceiling so she had to stay completely still if there were people below her to stay unnoticed.

It may have took the Guardian a longer time to navigate the base but a good Hunter knew that patience was the key to a successful infiltration. Eventually, she found a room that looked like the debriefing room with how it was filled maps and battle plans. She was fortunate enough to have arrived a few minutes before her target and his lieutenant came in so she had enough time to set up several plans that she could execute.

"Hm, so it seems the witch's plans have been derailed before it could take off," Adam Taurus scoffed condescendingly as he set his sword down to the side, "A pity but what do you expect from a plan prepared by a human."

"Yes, indeed but what should we do now, sir?" the tall lieutenant asked as he too put down his weapon, which was a massive chainsaw, on the table.

"The humans would be too busy fighting the Vex to notice us now so the White Fang should take advantage of this," the bull Faunus said as he gazed at the big map of Remnant hanging on the wall, "We strengthen our forces while the Vex and the humans battle each other and when both sides have been rendered too weak to fight back, we strike."

"And wipe them both out at the same time," the White Fang lieutenant finished with a grunt of approval, "Simple yet very effective."

Summer's temper flared as she listened to more of Adam Taurus' plan. That dumbass was willing to let thousands of innocent people die to the Vex just because he wanted to establish the Faunus as the superior race on Remnant. Didn't he know that the Vex would exterminate _everyone_ , including them if they don't join forces to fight them?

Or maybe he did and just didn't care?

That settled it. Adam Taurus had to die now.

"Drei, did you shut down their radios?" the Guardian whispered softly into her internal comms. She didn't have to whisper with her helmet preventing sounds from leaving its inside but it was a good habit to make as little sounds as possible when sneaking around.

"Yes, I did," the Ghost told her, "They won't be able to communicate with each other in this base and in the others."

"Good."

Summer slowly extricated one of her knives and put it away so one of her hands was free to take out Patience and Time. She looked through its scope while holding it with only one hand as the other kept her firmly latched onto the ceiling.

She would have preferred to use both hands to steady her aim but she could manage with one hand at this distance. With a sniper rifle as powerful as PT, it might as well be point blank range at how close her target was.

But there was just one last issue left.

"You think you could check to see how strong their Auras are?" she asked as the masked face of Adam Taurus was within her crosshares.

"Let's see…" Drei murmured as he accessed the two Faunus' Scrolls to see what their Aura levels were, "Impressive, Mr. Taurus is actually strong enough to withstand a sniper round to the face but his Aura levels would be severely drained from it."

That _was_ impressive. Not even some Titans could survive a headshot from a Guardian's sniper rifle and they had the advantage of helmets and shields.

"What about the other one? Is his Aura strong enough to tank a sniper round?"

"Not so much."

"Noted," she said as she squeezed the trigger, releasing a loud bang while the high caliber round sped towards the face of Adam Taurus. Both Faunus sharply turned their heads to where the loud sound originated from right before the bullet slammed right between the bull Faunus' eyes, shattering his mask into pieces.

"Adam!" the lieutenant cried out to his superior as the White Fang leader's head was knocked back and crashed against the wall behind them.

Ripping her feet free from the knives, the Guardian dropped down from the ceiling while still holding down the sights of PT so its camouflage was still in effect. She pulled the bolt back to expel the spent round before shifting her aim to the other Faunus in the room.

 _BANG!_

The contents of the White Fang lieutenant's skull splattered against the wall, staining the map of Remnant red. Paying no heed to the death of his lieutenant, Adam Taurus swiftly recovered and grabbed his sword.

Summer did as much extensive research on her target as she could on the way here. She knew that Adam Taurus was a practitioner of Iaido, a Japanese sword fighting style that involved unsheathing for a rapid attack and then sheathing again. It emphasized being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to a sudden attack.

His Iaido would have been the perfect counter to her sneak attacks but there was just one flaw to the smooth and controlled movements of this fighting style.

Adam's chokuto, Wilt was barely halfway out of the scabbard-rifle hybrid, Blush when Summer's hand slammed down on the pommel of his sword, forcefully pushing it back into its sheathe. His right hand grasped the air where his blade previously was since he didn't think that it would be knocked out of grip so unexpectedly. The Guardian had quickly crossed the room to reach her target with the simple application of her Blink as the white rose petals finished dispersing.

Iaido was made ineffective if the opponent could move faster than the wielder could react and draw his sword.

"What!?" Adam exclaimed in outrage at how his quickdraw technique was thwarted as he stared at the Guardian's hand on the pommel of his sword with wide eyes.

"Ho-grrk!" the bull Faunus gagged on his own words as Summer jabbed her free hand at his throat. Before he could recover, she smashed her knee into his abdomen, making him double over. She then grabbed him by one of his horns and hurled him forward.

As Adam fell towards the floor, she firmly gripped the hilt of his chokuto and smoothly pulled it out of its scabbard. Spinning on the ball of her right foot, she swung her pilfered blade and sliced into the back of the Faunus' coat. It had failed to draw blood but it did deplete more of his already very low Aura.

The moment Adam made contact with the ground, he rolled onto his feet and was in the midst of drawing his sword, not yet having realized that the Guardian had taken it from him. His fingers gripped uselessly in the empty space where his sword was supposed to be.

From the videos that the Atlas military had on Adam Taurus' combat abilities, she quickly deduced that he had the ability to absorb energy and remit it again through his sword. She didn't know if he could use his semblance without his sword but the chokuto was the Faunus' greatest strength since it prominently complemented his fighting style and power.

Being who she was, the female Hunter was not going to let him use such a dangerous trump card on her. Like what she did with Winter and Qrow, she would reduce any of her enemy's advantage into nothing so she had taken the sword from him before he could wield it against her.

Spreading her feet apart, Summer held the stolen chokuto with both hands and raised it to her head with the blade parallel to the ground. The red blade was lighter than Bolt-caster and had a longer reach than her knives but she quickly adjusted her stance to fit the blade.

"And you said that I wouldn't learn anything useful from those old Japanese movies," Summer said to her Ghost through the internal comms.

"And I never imagined that you would face a practitioner of an ancient Japanese fighting style but here we are now," Drei replied, "It's astounding how you always seemed to be getting into these kinds of situations."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Oh," the Guardian mumbled as she refocused on her target, "But thanks anyway."

Seeing his beloved Wilt in the possession of a filthy human, Adam growled viciously and aimed the barrel of Blush at the Guardian, firing several rounds. She deflected the bullets with a single twirl of the blade before she pulled out Thorn in one hand and returned fire.

Adapting quickly, Taurus spun his rifle-scabbard hybrid, Blush around to repel Thorn's special rounds but that was a huge mistake. A sudden bout of nausea overcame him as the arm that held Blush began to convulse violently. He stumbled back and was forced to use a nearby table for support. Confused, he gazed down at his left arm and was horrified to see black, vein-like lines crawling from the rifle and up his limb.

That was the effect of Thorn's curse.

It didn't matter if Thorn's bullets were blocked or deflected by the target. The Mark of the Devourer would still take effect as long as the bullets _hit_ their victims even if it didn't cause any lasting damage at first. With the exception of energy shields that could be projected by the Vex and Defenders, nothing could stop the curse from eating away at its victim until either the curse had run its course or the victim died.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO M-" the defiant screams of Adam Taurus were suddenly cut short as Summer appeared behind him with the pilfered chokuto outstretched like she had just finished swinging it.

"I killed you," she simply declared as the bull Faunus' head rolled off his shoulders and onto the ground, followed by the rest of the body.

Seeing the sheathe for the chokuto on the floor, the Guardian holstered Thorn before she placed her foot under it and kicked it up, sending it flying into now her free hand. She then whipped the sword to the side to remove the deceased Faunus' blood before sheathing it with a resounding click.

"I'm keeping this," Summer said as she placed the sheathed chokuto on her back with Bolt-caster since the previous owner wasn't in any state to use it anymore. The Guardian reached into her storage and took out a metal emblem as big as her palm.

The metal emblem was a pair of high heel shoes placed sole to sole, forming a heart shape inside. With the use of her Solar powers, the metal glowed white hot within her hand before she slammed it against the wall, leaving a scorch mark of it where it could easily be seen.

As ruthless as Adam Taurus was, he was a symbol to the White Fang and would be made a martyr after his death. The Guardian knew that Cinder Fall might use the man's passing to gain more support from the Faunus so she extracted the details of her personal emblem from Roman Torchwick and had Drei construct a copy of it from scraps.

Now didn't it seem suspicious that Cinder Fall's emblem could be found at the scene where the White Fang leaders had been killed?

As if on cue, the door to the briefing room burst open and a squad of White Fang grunts came pouring in. First thing that they saw were the dead bodies of their leaders and then the emblem of Cinder Fall displayed almost proudly over their deceased superiors. They had failed to see the Guardian since she had already activated her stealth cloak and had teleported out of the room before the door even opened.

"Drei, send a message to Ironwood," Summer told her Ghost as she used the chaos to safely exit the building unnoticed, "Tell him to send his troops in."

She paid no mind to the arrival of Atlesian bullheads dropping off both organic and synthetic soldiers as she made her way to the next base.

00000

It was well into the afternoon after Summer finished assaulting and leaving a copy of Cinder Fall's emblem in most of the White Fang hideouts in Vale. There were still a few more but those were minor ones so she had left them to the Atlesian military to deal with.

No doubt that word had spread amongst the captured White Fang members of Cinder Fall's 'betrayal'.

Summer wished that she could see the look on the mastermind's face when Cinder Fall hears of how she had the White Fang leaders assassinated and sold the rest of them out to the Atlesian military.

It was kind of funny for the manipulator to be outmaneuvered like that. Some would say that it was poetic justice but someone as cunning as Cinder Falls must have other resources that she could fall back on.

That was a problem for another time though.

The Guardian had made it back to the Atlesian warship and was inside of the Cloud Errant, familiarizing herself with her newly acquired weapon.

"Hm, the blade's weight is pretty light but the hilt is a bit heavier, which slightly throws off the balance of the whole thing," she observed as she ran a finger on the side of the red blade, "Although, considering it was made for quickdraws and rapid strikes, it makes sense for the wielder to have a blade like this."

Setting the chokuto down on her workbench, she moved on to the sheath-rifle hybrid. It looked like a standard rifle but most of its part was retractable so the blade could fit inside of it. It also functioned similarly to a scout rifle since she had to squeeze the trigger each time to fire a bullet but the recoil and stopping power were significantly weaker because the original owner preferred to fire it with one hand. Adding too much power would throw the aim off while straining the wielder's wrist even with Aura reinforcing the limb.

In conclusion, the design may be unorthodox like many weapons on Remnant but in the hands of a skilled combatant that knew how to wield it to its fullest potential, it was a very deadly weapon to behold so Summer resolved to master it in her spare time after she made some of her own modifications to it, of course.

Besides, the Guardian had always wanted a gun-sword and she had one currently in her possession. Since she was the new owner Wilt and Blush, she decided to change its appearances and applied the Bittersteel shader on it. It was also the same shader that she used on her armor.

The black parts of Wilt and Blush shifted to white, the red parts changed into grey and the grey parts turned into black. With its changed color scheme, Wilt and Blush no longer looked so menacing like its previous wielder was.

"You must be tired of causing pointless bloodshed," Summer cooed to Wilt and Blush as slid the blade into the rifle-sheath, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to put you to good use, okay?"

00000

AN:

If many of you were expecting an epic fight of grand proportions, then I'm sorry to have disappointed you.

Remember from chapter 13, it told you guys how Summer fight. She prefers to have all of the advantages and she would tear down anything that would make her opponent a deadly threat like when she crippled Winter and Qrow's weapons. She studied how dangerous her target was and thought of the best strategies to deal with Adam Taurus as quickly as possible and with as little effort for her as possible.

It is kind of how Batman likes to fight except Summer is willing kill her opponents if it came down to it.

If anyone was wondering what armor that Summer's teammates are wearing, here they are now.

Lux Sylphid (Warlock)

Head- Seraph II

Chest- Cuirass of the Hezen Lords

Arms- Claws of Ahamkara

Legs- Manifold Seeker II

Bonds- Eye of History

Prometheus-23 (Titan)

Head- Jovian Guard

Chest- Oblivion Plate

Arms- Immolation Fists

Legs- Heliopause Greaves

Mark- Ithacan Mark


	24. Swords and Shields of the Void

AN:

It has been a while since we've seen Ruby and Yang so let's get back to them, shall we?

PS: You may or may not hate me for what I am about to do in this chapter. Remember, I made no promises to not make anymore dick moves.

00000

Chapter 24

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," Ironwood said with a proud smile as Summer Rose stared blankly at him through her Scroll's screen, "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

That really wasn't what the Atlesian general was saying. What he was actually saying was something along the lines of expressing his gratitude for the Guardian's help to eliminate such a serious threat to Remnant but Summer had already entered into some kind of trance the moment the cyborg opened his mouth.

Summer went into her trance-like state whenever someone went on a long speech or rant because of her low attention span making her lose interest of the conversation so quickly.

While the general was delivering speech on how she was a godsend to Remnant or something, her mind was elsewhere.

" _Should I infuse Wilt with Void or Solar?"_ Summer mentally asked herself while looking like she was paying attention to the general when she wasn't in reality, _"And what special ability should I give to Wilt and Blush?"_

Deciding what modifications for her newly acquired weapon was a big deal for the Guardian since it was her very first gunsword and she wanted to make it special to match the occasion. (Guns with bayonets attached didn't count as gunswords in her opinion, no matter what Prometheus-23 said.)

She had ruled out Arc due to already having Bolt-caster so that left Void or Solar energy to infuse the blade with. It also had to match with the Iaido fighting style because Wilt and Blush were made specifically for that. Solar didn't seem to fit with the quickdraw and rapid attacks of Iaijutsu since it was too explosive and she preferred to use Solar attacks at long range than in close quarters.

The Guardian then remembered that Iaijutsu could also be used to swiftly eliminate an unaware target without them realizing the presence of the wielder. That went well with the main tenant of a Nightstalker to strike your enemies down unseen and Nightstalkers just so happened to specialize in harnessing the Void.

So that meant her new weapons, Wilt and Blush will be imbued with Void energy.

If Summer wasn't pretending to listen to the general, then her face would have contorted into a twisted and unnerving grin that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame as she thought of the possible special Void abilities that she could give to Wilt and Blush. Instead of that, she settled for her silver eyes to glint mischeviously as she nodded her head to whatever the cyborg was saying.

Nodding her head while not paying attention was a huge flaw to her technique that she had yet to correct since Cayde-6 had managed to rope her in to many undesirable tasks that the Exo was orginally supposed to do but made her do it in his stead.

Just like then, General Ironwood unknowingly took advantage of that and made her accept a responsibilty that she didn't want at all.

"Ozpin and I think it's best to have someone with the most experience teach our students, soldiers and Huntsmen about this newest threat and that someone is you, Ms. Rose," Ironwood said seriously while not yet noticing that the Guardian's focus was on other things, "I know it's a huge responsibilty and I had my doubts but you have proven yourself with the swift removal of the White Fang presence on Vale as well as eliminating the dangerous criminal known as Adam Taurus so I know you're capable of passing on your extensive knowledge on the Vex to our troops."

"Okay," she automatically responded, still not fully listening to the man.

"I knew you would agree," he chuckled approvingly before his expression turned serious, "Be sure to impart your knowledge well. It could mean the difference of life and death for our students."

"Wait what?" the Guardian finally heard what the man was telling her but barely understood it. Before she could ask for clarification, the general ended the call, "Drei, what just happened?"

"You just agreed to teach the warriors of Remnant on what they are facing," the Ghost told her as he was idly going through the worldwide database that Remnant called the internet. He made a solemn vow to never enter any of those forums on the web again.

The Ghost would never delete any of his memories but the absurd claims that he found on these forums made the idea very tempting to him.

"Well, I'll just make you do the whole lecture," she shrugged uncaringly as she went back to modifying Wilt and Blush, "It _is_ your thing after all."

The Guardian had cleared out a good portion of the hangar for her personal use and wasted no time to set up a basic workshop where she could work on her weapons and armour.

It wasn't on the same standard as the one that she had on Earth but it suited her needs well enough as she began reinforcing the blade with Relic Iron.

Relic Iron was a post-Collapse material of extraordinary density that's usually used for heavy armour and high-density ammunition and would not be suitable for a thin blade like Wilt but Void was the manipulation of gravity and dark energy so the blade had to have additional density to still retain its old weight with Void making it a whole lot lighter.

After that was done, she carefully cut out a piece of the hilt and placed a small Void generator that she had made with her supply of Hadium Flakes. She already purified the Hadium Flakes with Motes of Light and poured in a sizable amount of her own Void energy before putting it in the hilt. She placed the cut out portion of the hilt back and re-sealed it with a blowtorch.

Summer picked up a thing or two on upgrading weapons from watching Lord Shaxx create Bolt-caster and from Banshee-44 upgrading guns so infusing the blade with Void energy was well within her abilities but the energy shield function of the swords was still far from her understanding.

The sides of her mouth were lifted up in an almost deranged grin as the grey blade of Wilt glowed with Void energy, casting her face in an eerie purple light. She stepped away from her workbench and onto the clearing where she did a few practice swings to test it out, inadvertently making a few long slash marks on the ground.

According to Drei's calculations and her own expertise, she could swing Wilt faster than Bolt-caster but a quick check told her that it couldn't slice through the same kind of armour that Bolt-caster could. Wilt also lacked the capability to create a shield due to her not knowing how to make one so it would only be able to deflect small projectiles from grunts but not from explosions and the like.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Summer flicked the blade before she started to slide it back into its sheath. As the chokuto fully entered Blush with an echoing click, horizontal walls of burning Void light suddenly sprung up from the ground, specifically where she had left slash marks.

"WHOA!" the Guardian exclaimed in shock as she quickly used Shadestep to propel herself back so she wouldn't be caught within the series of Voidwalls. As suddenly as they appeared, the Voidwalls vanished with faint trails of Void energy lingering before dispersing.

"What the hell was that?" the female Hunter muttered as she kneeled down and ran a hand over where one of the Voidwalls appeared from. Order's Mask materialized over her head as she looked at the HUD counter that showed how much bullets or energy that she had left in her weapons. She was surprised to see that Wilt had nearly been depleted of energy as it gradually recharged.

"Congratulations, Guardian," Drei said dryly as he surveyed the damaged area with her, "You accidently managed to replicate the effects of a Voidwall grenade."

"I really should have seen this coming. The shield ability of swords takes up a lot of energy, which also stabilizes the amount of energy that goes into the blade so it won't explode in the wielder's face," the Ghost explained as he took several scans of Wilt and Blush, "You lacked the knowledge on how to add in the shield ability but the energy still had to go somewhere so it wouldn't end up destroying the weapon."

"But why did it come out like that?" she inquired curiously, raising the sheathed Void-infused chokuto to examine it.

Judging from the damages on the floor, the Voidwalls that Wilt had produced seemed to lack the same power and range of her Voidwall grenades and they lasted for only two seconds at most before exhausting most of Wilt's power but the fact that she could summon more Voidwalls in quick succession by slashing at the ground with Wilt sort of balanced it out.

"I don't know the exact reasons since no one, not even Warlocks could fully understand all of the intricacies of the Light and how it works," he answered as she practiced more Iaijutsu katas while smoothfully diverting her sword swings from the floor.

The Guardian didn't have a formal education on how to use Iaijutsu but she was a proficient swordsman enough to copy the Iaido stances that she had seen on old Japanese action movies. She was also very fast on the draw whether it was with guns or blades because of her mastery of both Bladedancer and Gunslinger subclasses.

Her adjusted methods were enough to make it seem like she was a master of Iaido but it would be found wanting against a true master of Iaido so she should stick with Bolt-caster in dire situations.

Or maybe she could use both at the same time?

Summer was ambidextrous anyway and she was accustomed to duel-wielding two weapons at once so using Wilt and Bolt-caster at the same time shouldn't take so long for her to master.

She still didn't know how she could upgrade the rifle-sheath, Blush though.

"Maybe I could ask Ruby for help," Summer suggested to herself, recalling somehere that the young Rose had built her own weapon that was a mechanical scythe and sniper rifle hybrid. She didn't exactly get a good look at it when the young girl had impaled her with it but she was hoping to examine it and maybe even offer special Guardian-branded upgrades to the scythe-gun.

Yeah, that could work.

Drei wanted to tell his Guardian that it was pretty late into the night already and that Ruby would most likely be asleep by now. Summer had a tendency of forgetting that normal people required food and sleep to survive especially whenever she decided to skip out on eating or sleeping.

Even though it may prove to be an inconvenience to the young girls, the Ghost knew that Summer needed to spend more time with her daughters. She was too much of a good person to avoid them forever.

And maybe, _just maybe_ , reconnecting with her daughters might cause Summer to become more mature and act more responsibly.

But one could only hope.

00000

 _Fur as black as night. Masks and claws as white as the moon. Splashes of red painted the snowy ground of the forest. But none of that mattered to her._

 _Her focus was on one thing and one thing alone._

 _She saw a figure in the distance. She began to approach the figure to get a closer look but only saw the figure's back, which was covered by a long white hooded cloak. They were facing a beacon of Light that was so bright that it hurt her eyes to look at it for too long._

 _The moment she got a good look of the figure's back, the figure started moving away from her and towards the Light in a sedate pace._

 _Panicked, she followed after the figure in hopes of catching up to them. Yet the distance between them remained the same. She moved her legs into a light jog and then into a full-on sprint to close the distance but to no avail._

 _Yet through all of that, the figure showed no sign of increasing their speed. They somehow still walked forward in a calm pace as if they were in no hurry._

 _She forced her legs to move even faster to catch them. Ignoring how her legs were burning in protest, she pushed on and on until through some unknown miracle, she finally got closer to the figure. Her hand clasped the figure's shoulder and pulled them to face her. Her heart stopped dead at what she saw as the figure finally stopped to stare at her._

 _What gazed upon her was gruesome mockery of her own face._

 _Silver orbs were clearly absent and left only the abyss of where they should be with a stream of fresh blood flowing from them like tears. The skin had a grey pallor, more befitting of a corpse than a living being as the stench of decay caused her to gag on reflex. On the walking cadaver's chest was a big gaping hole where she could see right through it._

 _With appalled realization, she recognized that hole as the place where she drove Crescent Rose through._

" _Why did you do this to me, Ruby?" her mother, Summer Rose demanded as she somehow stared at her accusingly in spite of not having any eyes, "I thought you loved me?"_

 _She tried to open her mouth to tell the woman that she didn't mean to kill her and that it was an accident but the words refused to come out. All she could do was stare helplessly as her dead mother slowly approached her and cupped her cheek with a strangely warm rotting hand._

" _It's alright though," the Wilted White Rose said in a soothing tone that did the exact opposite to her before she pulled out a rusty knife and placed it in her daughter's hand, wrapping her own hands around hers to make sure her grip was tight, "You can kill me as many times as you want."_

 _She watched in horror as her mother brought her smiling face closer to hers and then gently yet firmly guided the knife directly into her throat, piercing it slowly and causing more blood to spurt out like a hose. Even though she tried as hard as she could, she couldn't break free as the blood splashed against her face and into her mouth._

" _I'll still love you anyway," Summer Rose managed say coherently despite the blade lodged in her throat, "So go ahead, Ruby. Kill me once more."_

00000

"NOOOO!" Ruby Rose jolted awake with a scream. When she felt arms wrapping around her form, she panicked and tried to desperately break away from them but they retained a firm yet gentle hold on her.

"Sh, sh, it's okay, Ruby. Daddy is here," the tender voice of her father softly whispered as he held her in a comforting embrace while her older sister, Yang ran her fingers through the red reaper's hair and held her as well, "We're here."

Earlier that day, the hospitalized members of Team RWBY were released from the clinic since their injuries were not so severe with their Auras quickening the healing process. They had then returned to their miraculously still intact dorm room where Ruby and Yang's father, Taiyang and Uncle Qrow were waiting for them.

Blake had decided to sleep over at Team JNPR's room to give the sisters space to catch up with their family while Weiss went to visit her older sister, Winter after she learned that the Atlas Specialist had been taken in for treatment and had yet to wake up. Qrow too left to no doubt find more booze to chug down.

And here they were now as the Xiao Long father-daughter pair comforted the young Rose.

Unbeknownst to the Xiao Long/Rose family, Summer Rose was standing on the ledge outside near Team RWBY's window. She was about to pay Ruby and Yang a visit but had heard the younger girl's outburst from what no doubt was a nightmare.

The Guardian was not very good at understanding people but she had an idea on what the Red Rose's nightmare was about.

Killing your own mother even by accident would traumatize anyone and was excellent fuel for nightmares. Even though her death wasn't permanent, it was going to take some time for the girl to recover.

Summer and her Ghost both knew that seeing the girl in her current state might not be the best option at the moment so with a weary sigh, she teleported to the roof of the building.

As much she wanted to console the girl, the female Hunter wasn't confident that she could do it. The old Summer Rose would have been able to sooth any of the girl's worries but that person died a long time ago.

Maybe, it was better to wait until morning to meet with them.

00000

"You guys ready?" Cayde-6 questioned Fireteam Nero as he cocked Moss Azoth IV and Vortimer-D, "Who knows what we're going to face in this ownership ceremony thing so you better be on your A-game."

"Please," Lux Sylphid scoffed as she spat out a burnt out cigarette and unholstered Hawkmoon, "We're the great Fireteam Nero and we have one of the legendary Vanguard with us. I say this is the most ready that we'll ever get."

"Now is not the time for cockiness, Lux," Prometheus-23 admonished his teammate as he rested 4th Horseman on his shoulder, "We need to take this seriously."

Fireteam Nero and Cayde had returned to their jumpships to restock on ammunition and the Guardians even took the liberty of bringing in additional firepower.

The Warlock prefered more precise weapons and used her own arcane abilities for more explosive tactics so along with Hawkmoon, she had brought the fusion rifle, Queenbreaker's Bow and a Solar Infinite Edge. Lux had acquired Hawkmoon on her own but she got Queenbreaker's Bow and Solar Infinite Edge because of Summer Rose's assistance.

The Titan went with his usual loadout. He brought the four-barreled shotgun, the 4th Horseman, his hand cannon, Polite Denial 0/1 just in case he needed it and the rocket launcher, SUROS JLB-42.

The Hunter Vanguard stuck to his duel hand cannons and the sniper rifle, Tao Hua Yuan that had been strapped to his back and had yet to be drawn. The Hunter Exo also supposedly brought a heavy weapon with him but he kept the exact weapon a secret from the other Guardians.

Although, Eris Morn seemed to have an inkling as to what it was the Exo carried with him since she regarded him with apparent curiosity before he dismissed her gaze with a pointed look of his own.

For people that either had half of their face covered or a face that barely expressed any emotion, they were quite easy to read if you knew what their tells were.

"Alright then," the Hunter Exo declared as his hand cannons spun in concentric blurs before they abruptly stopped spinning and slapped solidly in their owners' palms, "Eris, you may begin."

The former Guardian knelt within the pentagram and began to chant in an otherworldly language that sent chills down the Guardians' spines. Her three green eyes started to glow brighter and with more intensity as the Hive incantation reached its apex. As Eris Morn spoke the final verse of the invocation, she slammed her palms onto the pentagram and the Guardian's visions were filled with absolute darkness.

"This all seems very familiar somehow," the Awoken commented as her body tensed on instinct. In spite of their lack of vision, they could still sense where their companions were.

"You can say that again," the Titan replied as brushed past his less durable allies and took a protective position in front of them.

Not only was the Exo Titan so polite and tactful but he was also very well known for his protective nature, which could be seen both on and off the battlefield. He could shrug off hits that would have killed normal Titans since he trained his Light for more defensive purposes. In fact, the path of the Defender was the first one that he had mastered before learning the paths of the Striker and Sunbreaker.

Being able to stand his ground as a stalwart wall of his own, Prometheus-23 was the epitome of a Titan and had earned many praises from his fellow Titans and even from Commander Zavala, the Titan Vanguard.

Because of that, he was able to perceive the danger and reacted appropriately by projecting a wall of Void energy as a massive sword literally _cleaved_ through the darkness and slammed into the hastily conjured Shield of Dawn.

The Shield of Dawn was Prometheus' own variation of the Defender's Ward of Dawn. Instead of a stationary dome, the Exo Titan conjured a tall and wide wall of Void Light through his left arm, acting as a protective shield while the wielder retained a degree of mobility. Even though it could only guard the front of the user, the Shield of Dawn could last longer and could charge faster than the standard Ward of Dawn.

It could also be projected faster in case of urgent circumstances like this for example.

The Titan grunted in heavy exertion as a crater formed beneath his feet and the darkness was instantly blown away like a curtain of dust to reveal a being that the Guardians never thought that they would see again.

"Crota," Cayde narrowed his eyes as the thought to have been defeated Hive God pressed its blade harder against the Titan's defenses.

With a snarl of defiance, Prometheus dug his feet deeper into the ground and mightily pushed his Shield of Dawn back against the Son of Oryx, staggering it back. The Shield of Dawn dispersed but its energy still remained as the Titan channeled it into one devastating punch.

The Disintergrate slammed into the Hive prince with the force of an Ogre and knocked it back by several feet as its feet skidded across the floor, digging two deep parallel trenches as it went before it slowed to a stop. The massive Hive being barely looked winded and it also looked like it was about ready to pay the Titan back in kind.

But an explosive round from Tao Hua Yuan detonating right in its center eye distracted the Son of Oryx long enough for Prometheus to catch his metaphorical breath.

"Eris, I thought Crota is dead!" the Hunter Vanguard demanded as he fired another explosive round at the Hive God's face to distract it, "What the hell is he doing here!?"

"It is a mere shade of Crota that his father had created in honor of his fallen son," the former Guardian told them telepathically, "It does not possess the same strength as the original but it still should not be taken lightly!"

As the last explosive round in Tao Hua Yuan's magazine detonated in the Shade of Crota's mouth, the Hive God copy bellowed in fury. Its roar appeared to be a beacon as a horde of Taken materialized around them.

"Looks like Oryx Jr. brought his friends! Whoop-de-fucking-do!" Lux exclaimed as she swapped Hawkmoon for Queenbreaker's Bow and unleashed a charged blast at a Taken Knight rushing towards her, completeing obliterating its head.

Prometheus backhanded a nearby Taken Psion, sending it flying while he fired a round from 4th Horseman at a Taken Acolyte. Pumping another round in the shotgun, the Titan rolled to the side to avoid a swing from the Shade of Crota's sword. The Exo Titan reared back before ramming his shoulder into the Shade's sides, knocking it off balance for a brief moment.

The Shade didn't take long to recover and was about to retaliate but the Titan leaped back while firing his shotgun at its form, using the recoil to add extra force to his jump. The Shade of Crota made to follow but an energy blast from Queenbreaker's Bow crashed into the back of its leg, causing it to stumble.

"Hey shit-face! There's more than one of us here!" the Warlock yelled as she launched a Nova Bomb at the Shade. The orb of Void Light impacted its midsection and the Shade's massive form was concealed by the explosion of Void Light.

Switching 4th Horseman for SUROS JLB-42, the Titan fired a volley of rockets as his Warlock companion fired energy bursts with her fusion rifle at the Shade, not giving it time to recuperate. Once the energy battery of Lux's fusion rifle and the magazine of Prometheus' rocket launcher ran dry, they tossed a couple of their most destructive grenades before reloading.

Fireteam Nero was under no illusion of that being enough to defeat the copy of Crota. If it had even half the strength of the original, then it could survive an assualt like that without any problems.

The Hunter Vanguard exchanged his sniper rifle for his hand cannons and proceeded to eliminate the disposable minions while the members of Fireteam Nero continued to bombard the Shade of Crota with everything they got.

"Guardian, incoming!" all of their Ghosts warned them at once as the Shade of Crota's sword and eyes started to glow ominously.

The Guardians didn't need to be told twice as they huddled together. The Titan then gathered as much of his Light as he can in his clenched hand before he slammed his fist into the ground, projecting a dome completely composed of Void Light around the warriors of Light.

It was not a moment too soon as the Shade raised its sword high and released a colossal shockwave of purplish fire that enveloped the entire area, reducing the surroundings and its own minions into dust.

Fortunately for the Guardians, they remained unharmed as the purplish fire splashed across the barrier's surface. As they stayed within the Ward of Dawn, Prometheus' Light flowed into their weapons, giving them a boost in power. The Shade of Crota's attack eventually died down, allowing the Guardians to safely step out of the Ward of Dawn with their Light-enhanced weapons.

"You may not be the real thing but I'm going to enjoy killing you," Cayde said as he stowed his hand cannons away and a small distortion began to take place in his right hand. The distortion soon took shape as both of his hands grasped an ethereal looking double-edged sword with a crossguard.

This was Dreadfang. It was the only weapon that the Vanguard had confiscated from Guardian Summer Rose since they had deemed a weapon forged from the power of the Taken was too hazardous for anyone to wield despite it being a bane to the Taken.

Cayde-6 had covertly appropriated the Taken-forged weapon from the vault where it was locked away just in case he needed Dreadfang's power to take control of the Dreadnaught.

It also seemed to be the right thing to do as the Shade of Crota noticeably recoiled from the very sight of sword in his hands.

"This is payback for my Fireteam, you son of a bitch!" the Hunter Exo shouted as he charged at the Hive God copy with Dreadfang raised high. The blade flared almost in hunger at the blood it was about to be drenched in.


	25. The Black Vanguard

AN:

It has been officially confirmed that Cayde and his Fireteam were part of the mission to retake the moon as canon so please don't act so surprise.

Also, I have been getting some complaints over my bad grammar in the story. I would like to tell you guys that I actually write out most of the chapters on my phone since I can't use my laptop at my part-time job or during class (my teachers have a strict no gadgets policy). I'm sure you know the pains of writing documents on a smartphone while trying to not make any grammatical mistakes even with auto-correct supposedly helping you out.

00000

Chapter 25

"I don't know who you belong to but you are my new best friend," Summer Rose said in a cutesy tone as she held a black and white small dog to her face, "Yes, you are! Yes, you are!"

The dog was a black-headed, tricolored Pembroke Welsh Corgi with grey eyes and a short stubby tail that wagged excitedly at its owner's new friend.

Said corgi barked twice in excitement and proceeded to lick the Guardian's face. She giggled a bit and hugged the adorable dog closer to her chest as she gleefully rubbed his belly.

The small dog reminded Summer of the pack of wolves that always followed Lord Saladin around. Even though wolves were known for their xenophobic nature, that particular wolf pack was quite welcoming and playful to those of the Light most likely due to their close proximity to the legendary Iron Lord.

For those of the Darkness, not so much.

Summer wasn't sure if the reason for the wolves being so deadly in battle was because they had greatly evolved to poise a threat after the Collapse or because Lord Saladin had somehow trained them to harness the Light within them.

Either way, those wolves put the term "man's best friend" to a whole new level. It was a shame that there weren't many wolves or natural animals left on Earth.

"Zwei!" a familiar voice called out and the dog in Summer's hands responded to it, which allowed her to deduce that 'Zwei' was the dog's name. The dog jumped out of her arms and ran to the black and red cladded Ruby Rose. The corgi, now known as Zwei happily barked twice at the girl and ran around the girl before running back to Summer as if he wanted to show off the Guardian to his owner.

"Oh, I didn't know this dog is yo-Oof!" Summer was about to say but she was forced to brace herself instead as the younger girl tackled her at superspeed, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake.

"This is real," Ruby murmured with her eyes tearing up a bit as she hugged her mother tighter, "You're actually here. This isn't a dream."

The Guardian was at loss on what she should do for a few moments but she then remembered the appropriate response to this. Her arms hesitantly wrapped around her daughter and Summer gave the girl an awkward pat on the back.

"I guess it is," she replied, reciprocating the hug.

Mother and daughter stood like that for who knew how long and the former was beginning to get a little uncomfortable since she hadn't fully accepted the idea of having a daughter. Summer wanted to break off the embrace already but she was afraid of hurting the girl's feelings if she decided to end the hug prematurely.

Fortunately for the Guardian, a loud cough interrupted their moment and Ruby broke off the hug on her own volition. But when Summer saw who was the one that coughed, she thought that maybe five more minutes shouldn't hurt.

"Ruby sweetie, would you mind if I have a few minutes with your mother?" Taiyang asked politely while subtly hiding his nervous yet eager demeanor from the girl.

Oh boy.

00000

Cayde-6 never had a preference for swords. Swords weren't as fast as knives and lacked the range and stopping power of guns so he would much rather choose knives or guns for his personal loadout.

However, it didn't mean that he had no idea how to wield one.

Lord Shaxx and Commander Zavala were old-fashioned to the point of using medieval weapons like war-axes and hammers even when everyone else employed firearms yet their skills with such primitive weapons were good enough to match and even surpass the application of guns that for anyone wishing to survive long against them, they would have to either fight at extremely long range or match them in swordplay.

Considering that those two legendary Titans were a lot faster than they looked and could easily cross any distance between them and their opponent, they were forced to go with the second option more often than not.

And Cayde had experienced the second option many times already in Crucible matches against either of them so he had learned enough sword fighting to be called a master swordsman.

The Hunter Vanguard held Dreadfang in a firm yet relaxed grip. With a clear mind, he rushed forward as he slightly lowered his center of gravity to enter his custom battle stance.

The Shade of Crota launched itself toward him with its movement resembling more like a force of nature than what its gargantuan size would suggest. Its Cleaver swung down as Dreadfang swung up. The tip of the Cleaver met the flat of the Exo's blade and slid off it, smoothly diverting it away from smaller swordsman.

Cayde stepped forward as he used the momentum of the Cleaver to knock its wielder off balance. Dreadfang came up, flicking left and right as the Exo channeled his Void Light into the sword to increase its range and power much like what a Bladedancer channel their Arc into their knives for an Arc Blade but with more control.

There was no sense of hurry or speed in those swings but the members of Fireteam Nero had trouble with keeping track of the sword's movements as it swung around to cut at the Shade while dextrously deflecting the enormous Cleaver. If they didn't have experience with Summer's own swordplay, then they wouldn't have been able to follow Dreadfang's attack pattern at all.

The Hunter Exo wasn't matching the Shade blow for blow. Such a tactic would have fallen apart in an instant along with him.

It was more like he was matching the Shade with skill for every blow. He applied the least amount of effort required to slightly alter the course of the Cleaver away from his form. If the Shade of Crota was the surging river that could not be stopped, then Cayde was the rock the water flowed around yet never making it budge in the slightest. In conclusion, the Exo Hunter was simply using the Shade's size and strength against it.

And for some strange reason, he couldn't help but imagine the Shade with a head of blonde hair that somehow incensed his motivation to inflict as much pain and damage as possible to the monster. It was also surprisingly cathartic.

He should sneak out of the Tower more often.

As Cayde-6 demonstrated why he was considered the best Hunter, the members of Fireteam Nero found themselves occupied with a seemingly endless horde of Taken Thralls with a couple of Acolytes here and there. It was nothing that they couldn't handle but they would waste precious ammunition to keep the frenzied Taken spawns from interrupting the Exo Hunter's duel with the Hive god copy.

Ammunition that they could use on the Shade of Crota.

Cracking her neck, Lux Sylphid slung Queenbreaker's Bow behind her back and replaced it with the Solar Infinite Edge. She twirled the single-edged blade in her grip as it erupted into flames.

The first Taken Thrall to reach her found itself being cut in half by the flaming sword before disintegrating into ash. As the first Thrall died, the Warlock had already moved on and bisected numerous Thralls. She would occasionally fling her free hand outwards, sending handfuls of Thralls flying at breakneck speeds.

The Awoken's sword techniques weren't anything special. They were more utilitarian than the graceful swordplay of Summer Rose and Cayde-6 but she knew the perfect time and place to perfectly execute each one and even utilized a combination of several.

Her swordsmanship may not look like a work of art but it let Lux hold her own against Summer's own skills with the sword. Not enough to beat her but enough to make the young Hunter take her seriously in a sword fight especially when she used them in conjunction with her own abilities as a Warlock.

As Lux slaughtered Thralls with her sword, Prometheus-23 took on a more hands-on approach. Literally.

The Titan charged into the horde, sending many of the Taken Thralls flying. His charge came to an end as he rammed an Acolyte against a wall, completely pulverising the poor creature into dust. A lowly Thrall thought that the Exo Titan was vulnerable in his current position and eagerly swiped at him with its razor sharp claws.

Prometheus simply caught the claw before it could even touch his armour and began to swing the Thrall around before letting it go and making it crash into the other Hive spawns. He reached behind him and pulled out 4th Horseman before charging into the fray once more while accompanying his charge with shotgun fire.

In a few short minutes, the army of Taken Thralls and Acolytes was reduced to a measly handful that wouldn't even poise a threat to a single veteran Guardian.

Finally having enough of the situation, the Shade of Crota screamed in rage and frustration as it gathered its own power and released it through a moderately sized shockwave. It wasn't on the same scale as the first one that it let loose but the Exo Hunter still thought it best to backflip away to safety, giving Fireteam Nero space to shoot at the Hive Major without the risk of friendly fire. The Shade roared once more and chased after its quarry, swinging its weapon at the nearest Guardian.

Switching her sword for Queenbreaker's Bow, Lux ducked under the gigantic Cleaver before retaliating with an energy blast from her fusion rifle at the Shade of Crota's face. Barely fazed, the Hive God copy slammed its free hand down onto the Warlock's form, creating a crater where she once stood.

A sinister grin appeared on the Shade's corpse-like face as it relished the satisfaction of squashing an annoying bug of the Light but its celebration was short-lived as it felt a weight settle on its shoulder. It sharply turned its head to the side and saw the glowing barrel of Queenbreaker's Bow pointing right in front of its face. Before it could move to remove the Guardian on its shoulder, the fusion rifle released its white hot load all over its face.

The Warlock may not have the same skill with Blink as Summer Rose but she was no amateur at it, having used it to avoid the Shade's strike and transported herself onto its shoulder where she unleashed an energy blast point blank at its ugly mug.

The Shade's free hand whipped out and was about to grab the Awoken but the appendage was pushed back as a dark brown crashed into it. The Shade of Crota roared in agony as the brown blur revealed itself to be Cayde-6 impaling the accursed blade, Dreadfang into its arm.

"Prometheus, now!" Lux cried out for her Titan companion as she flipped off the Shade while Cayde dislodged Dreadfang from its limb and threw the Taken-forged sword at the Shade like a javelin.

The Hive Major saw Dreadfang heading towards it and was able to move its head to the side so that it would impale its shoulder instead of its face. It still wounded the Shade a great deal, judging from its earpiercing roar.

Cayde wasn't bothered by the fact that he missed since he still achieved what he was aiming to do in the first place.

Distracting it long enough for Prometheus to prepare himself.

The loud sounds of metal clanging against metal alerted the Shade of the Crota to the Titan who was busy gathering his strength for his own devastating assault.

Prometheus' body was wreathed in the hottest of flames. The rocket launcher, SUROS JLB-42 was replaced by a blacksmith's hammer, its head beaked like that of a raptor's as its wielder rushed towards the Shade like a burning and unstoppable juggernaught, leaving flaming craters with every step he took.

The Hunter and the Warlock quickly ran as far away from the Titan as possible. They knew better than to get in the way of a Sunbreaker's rampage.

Even though the Titan Exo was obviously a very gentle person at heart, his destructive abilities could flatten a good portion of the City before anyone could stop him. He could rip apart Cabal troops and make an Ogre stagger with his brute strength alone.

And the Shade of Crota saw this display of power for itself as the Hammer of Sol violently clashed against its Cleaver. The Titan repeatedly smashed the physical manifestation of the sun on the Shade's guard. The Shade was visibly strained and was losing ground as it defended itself from the Sumbreaker's assault.

Growling, the Shade raised its free hand as Darkness began to accumulate within its palm for a counter-attack. Before it could blast the Titan with the Void of its Darkness, an explosive round from Tao Hua Yuan and an energy blast from Queenbreaker's Bow impacted its face, momentarily disorienting it.

Using the Shade's distraction to his advantage, Prometheus finally broke through its guard and knocked the huge Cleaver out of its grip. He smashed his Hammer of Sol on the side of its leg, forcing the Hive Major to fall to one knee. The Titan then launched himself from the ground as he swung the Solar hammer upwards, using the force of his jump and swing to deliver a shattering blow to the Shade's chin.

The Titan didn't stop with that one attack though as he began to drive several more savage blows on the Shade's poor tortured face. The ancient helmet adorning its head shattered into pieces from the overwhelming onslaught of hammer strikes but that was when the Shade of Crota decided that enough was enough as it backhanded the Titan, sending the bulky Exo flying.

Cayde and Lux ducked as Prometheus sailed over their heads before crashing behind them, forming a crater where he landed. The Warlock stood back up and pointed her finger at the Shade.

The Awoken knew that a regular Nova Bomb wouldn't be enough to stagger the enraged Shade so she did something a little different.

She focused Void energy at the tip of the finger aimed at the Shade. It was a chaotic, swirling mass of dark energy, decaying particles and collapsing matter. She concentrated the mass further into an orb the size of a golf ball.

The whole process took the Warlock a second to complete. It took her another second to assess the variables that would disrupt her aim before the orb of dark matter shot off from her finger like bullet being fired from a hand cannon.

The bolt of Void was too small to be considered dangerous to hurt the Shade of Crota but as Summer Rose had proven, size didn't matter.

Seriously, Guardians were usually around six feet tall and yet Summer was just five feet and eight inches at most. Compared to her peers, the young Hunter might as well be a midget.

That Void bolt still contained the destructive energies of a Nova Bomb except it was compacted into one tiny form so it had more penetrating power than even the strongest of armour-piercing rounds.

It was simple physics combined with not so simple physics.

Lux may not act like it but she was still a Warlock so she had an extensive knowledge of not only her arcane abilities but also almost every branches of science. That knowledge came in very handy for her on more than one occasion.

But it wasn't the penetration of her improvised Nova Bolt that she wanted. It was its small size to increase her precision and the chances of her hitting her target, which was the Taken-forged sword, Dreadfang still embedded in the Shade's shoulder.

The Warlock had seen the results of what happened when you channel a type of energy to a weapon, a sword specifically, already infused with that same energy when Summer had demonstrated it with an Arc Edge in an Iron Banner Crucible match.

The results were nothing but explosive, which had been dubbed as Edge Breaker by Lord Saladin and the many Guardians watching that match.

What Cayde-6 did earlier to extend the range was more controlled and careful so it wouldn't blow up in his face but Lux wasn't trying to be careful as the Nova Bolt slammed into the Taken-forged sword.

Dreadfang absorbed the Nova Bolt like a lightning rod to a lightning bolt and also much like a lightning rod, transferred all of that unstable energy into whatever it was attached to.

The sword impaled in the Shade's shoulder started to pulsate fiercely as a pale ink-like substance seeped from the blade and into the Shade's shoulder. The Shade's visage contorted to one of complete agony and couldn't even bring itself to roar as Dreadfang's power was transferred inside of it.

Drawing her Solar Infinite Edge and putting Queenbreaker's Bow away, the Warlock brushed past the Hunter Vanguard and raised the sword up to activate its Solar shield, making sure that her two companions were behind her. She didn't know how big the explosion of copying Summer's signature Edge Breaker would be but she didn't want to accidently kill herself and her companions in the process so it was better to be safe than sorry.

It turned out to be a good idea as the energies contained within Dreadfang was finally released in a spectacular explosion. The shockwave of the blast pressured the Solar shield with so much force that Lux felt her bones rattling from the effort to hold it off.

"Damnit! This is supposed to be Prometheus' job!" the Warlock gritted her teeth as her boots burrowed into the floor. Eventually, the blastwave ceased and allowed her a moment of respite.

Cayde pulled his fellow Exo up to his feet and lent his shoulder for support but the Guardians' guards immediately went back up when their radars still detected an enemy's presence. The Hunter Vanguard and the members of Fireteam Nero quickly drew their hand cannons and aimed them at the still living (relatively speaking) Shade of Crota.

The Shade looked worse for wear. Its entire right arm and parts of its torso had been completely blown off while its ancient stone-like armour was slowly crumbling off its severely damaged body to reveal a glowing orb within its chest that pulsed like a beating heart.

It looked like the Shade was at its last breath but it wasn't going to give up just yet as it lifted its remaining arm and a sphere of Darkness started to form in its palm.

"You know what we like to say when we're about to off the main baddie?" Lux asked the Hunter Vanguard as she unconcernedly stared at the Hive Major charging its attack while Hawkmoon remained firmly aimed at the Shade's core.

"Yes but I don't think I should," Cayde replied as Moss Azoth IV unwaveringly pointed at the clear weakpoint, "It _is_ Fireteam Nero's thing after all."

"Then consider yourself an honorary member, sir," Prometheus-23 politely retorted as he recovered enough of his strength to stand on his own feet, "You've definitely earned it."

"Heh, works for me," the horned Exo shrugged as the titan lined the sights of Polite Denial 0/1 at the Shade of Crota's heart . It wasn't like it made any difference anyway since he was just filling in for Summer Rose so just this once.

"Light's out," the three Guardians chorused as they all squeezed the trigger of their hand cannons at the same time.

The three bullets shot out from the barrels and zoomed across the ruined battlefield before burrowing into the orb in the Shade's chest. The Shade was sent reeling back from the combined stopping power of three hand cannons. It also lost its concentration, making it lose control of the sphere of Darkness in its palm.

Turning around, the Guardians holstered their hand cannons and leisurely walked away as the Darkness backfired on the Shade in another outstanding explosion.

Fireteam Nero's catchphrase sounded kind of corny but to be fair, it was Summer who came up with it and they sort of got stuck with it ever since.

They heard the sharp whistiling of air like something was being hurled towards them. Before Prometheus and Lux could turn to look, Cayde whipped his arm out and caught the Taken-forged sword, Dreadfang in his hand. The Exo Hunter twirled the blade for a moment and then tossed it into the air once more before it landed and secured itself with Tao Hua Yuan on his back.

"You just gotta have the last word," the Awoken grumbled as the world around them slowly faded away and they were now back on the Dreadnaught's bridge. Whatever Eris Morn did, it took them to a separate plane of reality much like when Fireteam Nero had fought Oryx.

"It's part of my charm," Cayde cheerfully retorted, throwing his cape back in a flamboyant manner, "That's why everyone adores and admire the magnificient me."

"Debatable," she snorted.

00000

I'm not sure if this surpasses the fight scene between Summer and Qrow but it sure as hell does in my opinion.


	26. Things Keep Getting Stranger

AN:

Not counting Summer Rose, who is your favorite member of Fireteam Nero? Lux Sylphid or Prometheus-23?

00000

Chapter 26

Summer Rose was in so much trouble.

Not the kind where she was caught doing something that she wasn't supposed to nor the kind where she was in a fight for her life but the emotional kind that she had little to no experience in dealing with.

Like dealing with boys.

The young Guardian didn't really spend that much time with the opposite sex or more like she wasn't close to anyone male. The only exceptions were Cayde-6, Prometheus-23 and Variks but the two Exos were more like family to her while the Eliksni was just a friend.

And who in their right mind would see the eccentric Summer Rose as a prospective love interest?

No one or at least none that Summer was aware of but she was pretty sure that she would notice if someone was romantically interested in her.

If her Ghost had bothered to read her thoughts, then he would have scoffed cynically. His Guardian could be quite dense at times.

In spite of her quirky and immature behavior, the young Hunter was still a beauty in her own right with (as quoted by several perverted Guardians) amazing legs that held the same magnificence as the Traveler. She actually had a handful of admirers that she didn't even know existed. But of course all of her would-be suitors were all scared off by Fireteam Nero (mostly Lux Sylphid) and Cayde-6 before they could attempt to court her since she was less than eight years old.

Guardians didn't count the age that they had in their previous life due to no one really remembering it. They also didn't count the years that they had been dead because of the same reason so Guardians determined their age by counting the number of years that they have survived as a Guardian.

Because of this, Summer was considered to be less than a decade years old. A mere child in the eyes of immortals.

Of course, age restriction didn't apply to Guardians so they could still drink alcohol or gamble if they wanted to but if a Guardian who was many decades older wanted to date a Guardian who was only seven and a half years old, then the latter's friend and surrogate family would be obligated to beat the ever living shit out of the former and they would not get into much trouble for it.

So for most of her career as a Guardian, Lux and Cayde had given any older Guardian that wanted to _deflower_ the White Rose a good beating before threatening to cut off their manhood everytime they revive if they continue to pursue the significantly younger Hunter.

Not like Summer knew that it was happening behind her back. In fact, she was the only one in the Tower that was not aware of those incidents and there was a running bet on when she would finally notice it occurring or be as ignorant as ever.

Either way, Summer had no idea how to interact with people that had an obvious attraction towards her since she hadn't had a single date in her whole second life.

If it was possible for Guardians to sweat, she would have been sweating profusely as the old Summer Rose's lover, Taiyang Xiao Long stared at her expectantly and approached her in such a way that she felt like an animal being stalked by the predator.

She had said this before but she felt no romantic attachment to the blonde man standing before her and she had made this clear to him already. Well, not really but pushing aside one's advances and teleporting away could be considered a rejection in anyone's books. Although, it looked like he wasn't going to give up just yet.

Summer was already going through an emotional turmoil with the revelation of her daughters. She didn't need her previous life's lover trying to hook up with her again to give her even more emotional burdens so she would rather tackle an easier problem before moving on to the harder ones like eliminating the Vex presence here on Remnant.

It said much about Summer's mindset when she considered reconnecting with lost family more of a challenge than repelling a full scale invasion of murderous cyborgs from space but in her defense, she had previously done the latter numerous times.

With Taiyang looking like an eager young puppy despite him being a middle-aged man, the young Hunter decided to pull a tactical retreat.

"Smoke bomb!" Summer yelled out as she hurled a smoke grenade at the floor between her and the elder yellow dragon, engulfing the hallway with smoke and obscuring Ruby, Zwei and Taiyang's vision.

The smoke eventually cleared out as the young girl with her pet and her father were in a coughing fit while her mother was nowhere to be seen and in the White Rose's place was the flower shaped artificial intelligience, Drei.

Summer may be a master of stealth but there were times that she was as subtle as a bull in a china shop.

"I do apologize for my Guardian, Mr. Xiao Long but I think it's best if you give her some space to reacquaint herself with you before you make any moves upon her," the Ghost suggested gently, calmly gazing at the befuddled blonde man with his one eye, "She has only just begun accepting the reality that she is a mother so please do not add anymore pressure towards her."

"I-uhh, what?" Taiyang eloquently said with a slackjaw expression as he stared at the sentient being barely the size of his palm.

"Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Xiao Long," Drei sarcastically remarked at the man's dumbfounded expression as he rolled his single eye before he dispersed into light blue particles, transporting himself back to his Guardian's side.

00000

"So when exactly are you going to stop running away from Mr. Xiao Long?" Drei asked curiously as hovered beside his Guardian.

"I'm sorry. He's just so…" Summer wracked her brain for the right word, "Forward. It was freaking me out and I just…panicked."

"Obviously," he replied, clearly amused by her discomfort towards Taiyang Xiao Long.

He could tell that his Guardian did not hold any romantic feelings towards the man but his presence was making her uncomfortable, which made him feel protective over her. He bore the man no ill will but if Mr. Xiao Long were to persist with his advances when Summer didn't want him to, then the Ghost would gladly sell the elder Xiao Long out to Fireteam Nero and Cayde-6 and let them deal with him as they wished.

The Ghost could see that his Guardian didn't want to talk about Taiyang Xiao Long so he wisely chose to change the subject.

"So did you think of a proper lesson plan?" he inquired. He figured if Summer wanted to avoid the subject of Mr. Xiao Long for now, then they might as well discuss about something productive.

"Lesson - what now?" Summer arched her brow in confusion.

"You know, passing on your knowledge of the Vex to the less informed?"

"I thought we agreed that _you_ were gonna do it?"

"No, it was just you. I said nothing of the sort."

"Oh, come on! It's _your_ thing to be the exposition guy."

"But _you're_ the one that unknowingly agreed to teach them in the first place so you have to at least do something to contribute."

"Alright fine!" the Guardian threw her hands up in exasperation and she began to browse through her Scroll, "Let's see… 'strict school teacher'. Huh, that could work."

00000

"I can't believe this," Blake Belladonna huffed in disbelief as she and the rest of Team RWBY gathered in the auditorium with all the other students, "We just learned that aliens are real and that they're out to kill us and yet we still have to take classes."

"We know next to nothing about these 'Vex'," Weiss Schnee admonished the Faunus girl, "It's crucial for our survival to learn as much as these things as possible."

"I just hope it isn't like Professor Port's class or we're all dead, "Yang Xiao Long grumbled in annoyance as everyone within earshot groaned as well at the Grimm Studies instructor.

All the students who had made a complete recovery were here and for the ones who still required bed rest, they were being shown a live broadcast of the special class in question through their Scrolls.

It also wasn't just the students in Beacon but the rest of Remnant. There were several cameras streaming this event to every corner of the world so that everyone, be they soldiers, students or professional Huntsmen, would know more of their newest enemy, the Vex.

As the students started to whisper among each other over what this assembly was for, a blonde woman with glasses walked onto the stage.

This woman was their combat instructor, Glynda Goodwitch.

"Settle down, students," Glynda Goodwitch said through the microphone, making the noisy students immediately quiet down, "You are no doubt wondering why you are gathered here today but as you have already known, the councils of the four Kingdoms have declared that we are in a state of war with a new threat."

"At the moment, we have no information of this new threat but we have someone who has much experience fighting the Vex," the professor continued before gesturing to the side, "She is someone who most of you students have already heard but may I introduce to you Ms. Summer Ro-"

The blonde woman stopped herself in mid-sentence and gawked along with everyone else at the very person that she was about to introduce.

"Well, this is definitely awkward," Summer Rose noted as she adjusted her eyeglasses.

The Guardian wasn't wearing her usual armour but a different outfit entirely.

She had dangling teal earrings that matched the hanging pendant on her collar. She wore a white long-sleeved, pleated top that had a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flared in pleats at the wrist. A black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings covered her lower body. She wore black boots with brown heels, and a cape that was purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape was stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back. Above this line of beads appeared an emblem of a tiara.

Instead of her armor, Summer Rose wore the exact same clothing as Glynda Goodwitch except it was scaled down to fit her smaller frame.

The young Guardian had accomplished a lot over the years. She had destroyed the Black Heart thus restoring Light to the Traveler. She had slain two gods from the Hive pantheon. She had bested so many elite Fallen that many Fallen Houses had a flee-on-sight order, concerning her and the rest of Fireteam Nero.

But never had she managed to make an entire civilization of Remnant become so speechless at the mere sight of her until now.

Professor Goodwitch took a really deep breath to calm herself and turned to scathingly glare at the Guardian as the blonde woman's left eye began to twitch aggressively, "Ms. Rose, why did you choose to wear that outfit?"

"I was going for a more respectable look so I searched for 'strict school teacher' on the internet and wouldn't you know it, your picture was top on the list," Summer answered before she motioned at herself to show off her new appearance, "And I thought it would be the perfect look to teach stuff to people but it looks like one of us is gonna have to change."

The combat instructor gave the shorter woman a withering glare as the blonde Huntress clenched her riding crop so tightly that everyone could hear the leather straining itself under her iron grip but the female Hunter simply stared at her back with no concern.

Summer had to admit that this woman was good but it was nothing compared to Commander Zavala's berserker rampage.

The two women stood like that for quite some time as they waited for one of them to give in but the one who broke off the standoff wasn't any of the participants. It was the Ghost, Drei.

"Guardian, this is not the time for that," he sternly scolded as he materialized between the two, "We have other more important things to discuss."

"Fine," the Guardian relented as she carelessly tossed aside the glasses. As she walked past Glynda Goodwitch, her clothes broke apart into blue particles and reformed back into her Hunter armor.

The White Rose was only naked for barely a fraction of a second so not many could catch a glimpse of her bare skin while the bright light also covered up anything that someone with quick perception would see.

"Alrighty then," Summer cleared her throat and then spoke into the microphone, "I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions for me but let me say this first."

"If any of you throw salt at me in an attempt to exorcise me even as a joke, then I _will_ break your fingers."

00000

 _Many years ago_

A Major Ursa reared up on its hind legs as it roared menacingly before it was suddenly silenced by a loud swish of air. Its large paws fell limp as the Alpha-classed Grimm split into two before dissolving into ash to reveal the critically injured Summer Rose standing before it with her sword raised high.

The sword was then brought down and cleaved a Creep's head off. The Huntress' leg whipped out and caught the decapitated head, sending it flying into a Beowolf's face. The wolf shaped Grimm was briefly stunned as its fellow Grimm's head hit it in the face before a blade pierced through the disembodied head and impaled the Beowolf in the throat.

Extricating the sword from the Beowolf, Summer spun on her heel and sliced another Beowolf in half. Suddenly, a Gryphon dived down towards her and briefly covered her bloodied form with its own. The avian Grimm flailed around for a bit before becoming still because of the sword that the Huntress managed to plunge into its heart. With groans of exertion, the White Rose pushed the dead creature off of her before facing the remaining Grimm.

What was a massive and overwhelming horde of Grimm was now reduced to a barely decently sized pack because of her.

Let it not be said that Summer Rose of Team STRQ was no longer a threat even though she was at death's door.

But the Huntress had finally reached the end of her rope as her body abruptly shut down and she collapsed face first to the ground, mixing the snow with her blood. Seeing the prone warrior's form encouraged the Grimm to converge upon her to end her dwindling life force.

As the creatures of Darkness was about to feast on Summer's broken body, a stream of gunfire slammed into the Grimm and rendered them into fine black and red mist.

The remaining Grimm turned their attention to the perpetrator of their kin's deaths and saw a feminine figure garbed light armor and a worn cloak as mechanical glowing eyes stared at them from under the hood. The stranger wielded an advanced-looking rifle with smoke emanating from the muzzle.

The Grimm snarled and growled at the stranger before they decided to rush at her. The stranger merely regarded the monstrosities with a clinical air as she calmly detached the spent magazine and replaced it with a fresh one. She then took aim and squeezed the trigger.

Each three shot bursts that came out from the rifle never failed to hit a Grimm in their tribal designed masks. One by one, the creatures of the Grimm fell as the stranger killed them with pinpoint accuracy.

Only one Creep was able to reach the stranger but the stranger's left hand whipped out and the unfortunate Grimm found a knife wedged into its brain as the stranger continued to exterminate the rest of the Grimm.

It wasn't long until the clearing was finally devoid of the Darkspawns and the stranger deemed it safe enough to slung the rifle on her back. She raised her head to reveal the face underneath the hood. The face didn't resemble what a human face would look like and instead was a sleek and shiny material like the person was wearing a mask.

But in reality, it _was_ the stranger's face for she was a machine that had gained sentience and thus a soul of her own. An Exo to be exact.

She pressed her index finger and her middle finger to her ear to activate the radio earset to contact her associate.

"I've located the last of the Roseus lineage," the stranger spoke into the communicator as she knelt next to the prone form of the Huntress. Her voice was slightly synthesized but it still managed to sound natural. If one didn't know that she was a machine in the first place, then they would simply assume that she was using a voice synthesizer.

She placed two fingers on the side of the White Rose's neck to check for the pulse, barely feeling a beat, "But we're too late. The wounds inflicted upon her by the Darkspawns and their mother, are too severe. She won't last long at this rate."

"We do not require for _this_ survivor of the Roseus lineage to survive," her associate told her as the Exo Stranger vigilantly surveyed the area around her for more Grimm, "There is still another one to continue the lineage but she is but a mere child at the moment so this one will do for now."

"You wish for this woman to be reforged in the Light and become a Guardian," the stranger effortlessly guessed what her associate wanted to do with the Huntress, "While the other one would leave behind descendants to carry on the inheritance of their Mark before her time comes to join her mother."

"Exactly. Now bring the woman through the Gateway. It won't stay open for long," her associate said before cutting off the transmission.

The stranger let off a sigh and she stared down at the dying Huntress with sympathy in her blue optics, "I apologize but it appears that your destiny does not end here."

"Ru…by…" Summer Rose weakly rasped as the stranger gently rolled her over and proceeded to lift her up bridal style, "Yang…"

"Shh, rest now," the stranger softly whispered as the woman's vision began to be consumed by darkness, "You still have a long journey ahead of you before you could see your daughters again."

The Exo Stranger started the long trek back to the Gateway as she carried the limp Huntress in her arms. By the time that they had reached their destination, the last breath of Summer Rose had already expired.

It didn't matter though since the White Rose would awaken once more but not as a Huntress of Remnant. But as a Guardian of the Last City.

00000

AN:

To those wondering if I would include the Exo Stranger to the story: Does this satisfy your curiosity?


	27. Blessed White Raven

The Rise of Iron has been officially out for a while now but I'm sure you hardcore Destiny fans already know that.

As for you RWBY fans, the volume 4 of RWBY will be coming out next month on October 22 with the trailer coming out on October 3 so that's something for you to look forward to.

I know I will while playing the new Rise of Iron content.

Chapter 27

The Vex.

They were the alien species that the Guardians knew the least of in spite of their many encounters with them in the past. The examination of a Vex unit's remains gave researchers no clear answers as to the race's biology or how they could teleport let alone manipulate time to a certain degree. Only two ever came closest to understanding the enigmatic collection of cyborgs but the first one, Osiris, was deemed untrustworthy by the Vanguard and was banished while the other one, Kabr, had long fallen in battle during his failed attempt to conquer the Vault of Glass.

That was why any information pertaining to the Vex was very valuable and the reason for Guardian Summer Rose's inadvertent return to Remnant.

There were no true experts on the knowledge about the Vex on Remnant but they had the next best thing and that was Summer Rose, a previous Huntress and current Guardian of the Hunter class.

However, the older generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses were only familiar with the old Summer Rose whose personality and work ethics would have made her the most suitable for a teaching position if she ever decided to accept a job at a combat school while the current Summer Rose could barely be trusted with her own room in the Tower much less teach a school full of impressionable teenagers.

She didn't have the patience for being a teacher and would usually choose to say things in layman's terms without fully elaborating them. It was better to ask others who would give a more detailed explanation like Summer's Ghost, Drei.

Summer would have passed on the responsibility of teaching the warriors of Remnant about the Vex to her Ghost if it wasn't for three important factors.

First, Drei had been doing all of her paperwork for her whole second life and he was getting tired of it so he coerced her into helping him by threatening to no longer work on her reports.

Second, they were not Guardians and thus could not revive should they fall in battle so she couldn't use the tried and true method of sending them out on the frontline alone to earn their own combat experience with the enemy.

Third, Ruby and Yang were a part of the class and they could benefit from her knowledge of the Vex. With Summer's newly rediscovered maternal instincts, she wanted to keep her daughters safe from harm but she knew that it was realistically impossible for her to be there all the time so it was better for them to learn as much as they can before heading out to the battlefield.

Because of those reasons, the Guardian decided to take the lecture as seriously as possible.

"Most of you are probably going to die," Summer bluntly said, causing a wave of incredulousness to spread out amongst the viewers.

Okay, maybe that was a little bit too serious but luckily, the Guardian managed to say an appropriate follow-up to mitigate the damage.

"But it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen so despite how unbelievable what I'm going to tell you is, you either pay attention or risk winding up dead," she continued, narrowing her eyes to convey the gravity of her words.

The White Rose stared at the gathered students for a few more seconds before she decided to begin.

"Alrighty then, to start things off, you are no doubt asking youself 'what are the Vex?'," she began as she had Drei manipulate the hologram projectors to show a small group of standard Goblin units, "The Vex are a race of space-faring cyborgs that has the ability to manipulate time to a certain degree."

…

…

"I beg your pardon?" Glynda Goodwitch was the first to recover from such an outlandish statement but she couldn't help but have her doubts along with the rest of the inhabitants of Remnant with what the Guardian had said, "But I do believe you just claimed that these Vex have the power to control time."

"Well, not complete control over time or they would have just went back to the past and wiped everyone before they had the chance to exist," she explained, shrugging her shoulders.

The Vex were smart and if they had the opportunity to do what she just said, then they would have done it already and everyone wouldn't even be in this situation since all of them didn't exist anymore. But because they were still here, it was logical to assume that the Vex couldn't time travel to the past.

That or it would just make an alternate timeline where only the Vex exist if you consider the multiverse theory.

Judging from the looks that her audience were giving her, they didn't seem to believe her.

"What, you don't believe me?" Summer said, annoyed, "The Schnees have the ability to manipulate time with their time dilation glyphs. It's not that farfetched for a super advanced alien race to accomplish a similar feat."

00000

Mercury Black fearfully stood at attention while being heavily drenched in sweat that was partly because of his nerves and the intense heat that their leader, Cinder Fall was giving out.

The amber eyed woman sat cross-legged in a specially made fireproof chair with her hands steepled together as smoke and fire radiated from her form. Standing some distance before her was the thief, Emerald Sustrai, holding a Scroll for the False Maiden to look at since the device would have melted instantly in the woman's hands.

"How?" Cinder inquired in a seemingly serene tone as the flames and markings on her dress burned brighter.

The two subordinates didn't need further elaboration as to what the woman meant but they still required to answer her soon or risk the chance of getting incinerated by the False Maiden.

Just yesterday, not only were their covers suddenly blown but practically every White Fang operatives stationed in Vale were taken into Atlesian military custody. Several of the White Fang leaders, including Adam Taurus was also declared to have been killed.

The clincher though was that according to their sources, it was Cinder Fall herself who sold out the White Fang and had their leaders assassinated.

Cinder's personal emblem could be found at many of the scenes where the White Fang leaders were killed. It was a small piece of evidence and yet it was damning enough for much of the scrutiny to be laid onto her.

Many of the White Fang members may have been taken into custody but word of her supposed betrayal had spread to the rest of the organization, thus making the remaining White Fang that were stationed in the other Kingdoms immediately cut off all ties with her.

"We don't know, ma'am," the green haired girl submissively bowed her head low as she fearfully awaited punishment for her failure.

But to her surprise, it was Mercury who came to her defense, "But I think Torchwick must have talked."

The raven haired woman would have dismissed such a claim since she knew that Roman Torchwick wasn't foolish enough to cross her but with recent events like the declaration of war against the androids called the Vex and Summer Rose's return from the dead, she couldn't help but have her doubts over the flamboyant thief.

"Did you receive any reports from Neopolitan to confirm this?"

She should at least confirm if the man's possible betrayal was true before condemning him to fiery burial. The illusionist girl that Torchwick kept around should be able to sneak aboard where he was being imprisoned to see for herself.

"Sorry," the young assassin shook his head, making Cinder frowned slightly, "All I got from her is a text messafe saying 'nope' over and over again and she hasn't sent another text since."

The two teenaged criminals nervously waited for their punishment but they were surprised to see Cinder pinch the bridge of her nose instead in the first sign of irritation for a long time.

"No matter," the False Maiden said as the fires around her receded, "They have lost their usefulness."

Her mouth curved into a wide and cruel smile as her amber eyes glinted dangerously, "After all, I've already located the Fall Maiden."

00000

Summer Rose wasn't one for lengthy speeches due to being more like a Guardian of action than an orator but she had delivered a thorogh lecture that everyone had learned immensely from.

Although, there were some things about the Vex that she didn't tell the inhabitants of Remnant.

The Ishtar Collective were able to discover some things of the Vex. According to them, the Vex could create a perfect simulations of people and events to predict their movements. They were able to calculate what the enemy would do before they even knew what it was. In essence, they could see into the future and adapt to it appropriately.

That was how the Vex could hold off the superior firepower of the Cabal for so long. The ability to destroy moons and planets didn't amount to much if their rivals knew how to counteract your every step before the Cabal could establish a secure foothold on Mars.

But the Vex could not perfectly simulate two things and they could not be able to predict any future as long as any of these two were involved in the equation.

The first were Artificial Intelligiences or AI for short. It was more of the advanced kind of AI like the Warminds, Exos and Ghosts and not the basic ones that were installed in Frames or mechs. The Warmind Rasputin was a clear example of this but his main focus was protecting a secret object from the Fallen House of Devils so unless the Vex tried to search for that mysterious object as well, he does not usually cross paths with the cyberorganic race.

The second were beings infused of either Light or Darkness. The Guardians were simply reanimated corpses that could wield the magical prowess of the Light and were more like the Light itself caged within a physical form. They were also no longer affected by the passage of time in more ways than one.

Guardians didn't age anymore and could live on for theoretically eternity if they didn't fall in battle for the last time. Not only that, they could also traverse the Vex's sanctum that existed outside of time with no negative side effects while normal objects, biological or otherwise, would suffer severe consequences like having their time chaotically fluctuate between the past, present and future.

Being creatures of Darkness, the Hive could fall onto the second category but only a select few could not be replicated by the Vex's simulations like the Taken King, Oryx and his army of subjugated Taken since the Vex, just like the Fallen and the Cabal, were no match against the Hive God's might and couldn't find a way to counter him.

Summer had discovered this while going through the old yet still functional data terminals in the Ishtar Sink on Venus but she had eventually forgotten about it after transfering it into the grimoire since she didn't have the tendency to read the collected archive of knowledge in her spare time and instead, focused on more combat oriented hobbies to pass the time.

Drei would have felt the need to remind her but it wasn't good for Remnant's morale if the residents knew that the Vex could predict their every move. If it wasn't for the Guardian and the Ghost's presence on this planet, then the Vex would have wiped out a significant portion of the planet by now.

So the Ghost decided to keep this piece of information to himself while letting his Guardian teach the warriors the best ways to fight off the Vex.

It was just in time too as dozens of outposts in different Kingdoms were under siege by the Vex and the soldiers and Huntsmen were able to effectively hold them off for now.

Despite them knowing how to fight the Vex now, the protectors of Remnant were stretched thin with defending their cities from both the Vex and the Grimm to launch a counterattack on the Vex fortresses so the leaders had assembled a special taskforce to disable the Vex Transfer Gates with Summer Rose obviously spearheading the operation.

Almost a week later, Summer found herself flying the Cloud Errant to one of the Vex spires with her assigned teammate as the only other occupant.

"That's a nice mask you got there," the Guardian noted idly, making small talk as she flew them to their destination but all she got was silence.

…

"Impressive looking katana. I have one of my own but I haven't exactly used it in battle yet."

…

"…So what did you mean when you said that you helped me and Taiyang make Yang?"

"Goddamnit Summer, I already had to give you the sex talk in your previous life. I am _not_ doing it for your second one," Raven Branwen finally spoke up ever since their sudden reunion two days ago.

00000

AN:

Many people have their own theories concerning the Rose/Xiao Long/Branwen family but I have one that's a bit unique from the rest.

Not much family bonding here but the next chapter will focus on that so don't worry.

It has been awhile since I made an Omake so here's one now but it's going to deviate from the rules pertaining to Summer Rose.

PS: All omakes so far are canon.

Omake: How Summer met Cayde-6

Guardian Summer Rose had recently returned from another scouting mission and had decided to pay a visit to the firing range in the Tower after dropping off her report to the Vanguard.

Of course, it wasn't just a simple scouting mission for the freshly recruited Guardian due to having to fight off an attack force of Hive to protect the Warmind Rasputin from its imminent destruction. Fortunately for her, she was able to eliminate the Hive soldiers as well as save the AI and as a result, Rasputin had transferred himself to (as quoted by her yet to be named Ghost) 'everywhere'.

The battle was grueling and hard-fought even for someone who didn't physically get tired anymore and it would not be remiss of anyone to take a long break even if they were Guardians but for the young Summer Rose, the battle showed her that she still had much to learn so she strove to better herself some more.

What she was trying to improve wasn't her aim with guns though.

The young Hunter deftly spun the knife between her fingers. Her arm suddenly whipped out and the Hunter knife was spinning through the air and was heading towards the target that was a simple humanoid-shaped metal board. But she had misjudged on how much strength that she put in her throw as well as the revolutions of the knife so it was the handle of the knife that smacked against the target and not the blade itself.

"Aaawww," Summer moaned dejectedly as she sadly stared at her failed throw, "Why can't I get it right?"

For hours now, the Guardian had been practicing how to throw a knife properly but each attempt had ended in failure. The knife either failed to stab into the target or missed the target entirely and had somehow ricocheted off the wall behind it before burying itself into a random passerby (that also happened to be Guardians).

Her Ghost materialized the Hunter knife into her hand once more and after some preparation, she threw the knife again but it went past the target, bounced off the wall behind it and then made its way to a hapless bystander.

At least she was able to hit something with the blade of the knife whenever the second scenario occurred as Summer watched her knife head towards another bystander.

But it was not to be as the supposedly unfortunate bystander smoothly caught the knife by the handle before the tip of the blade could pierce his face.

"You know, it took me years to learn how to bounce my knives off the walls without hitting myself," the bystander said with tinge of amusement as he lowered the knife to reveal that it was the Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 who she had nearly impaled, "And yet you did it completely by accident and with no control at all. I'm torn between being either embarrassed or impressed that you were able to fail so spectacularly."

"Hey, I'm doing my best here," Summer pouted grumpily as she crossed her arms and looked away, "I'll get it right eventually."

"Sure you will," the Exo Hunter rolled his eyes before absentmindedly flicking his wrist with Summer's knife noticeably gone from his hand. It was shortly followed by a loud thunk and the young Hunter turned to find her knife embedded right inside the smallest bullseye of the target board.

"~Wow~," Summer's silver eyes sparkled in awe at the Hunter Vanguard's feat, making him puff up his chest in self-satisfaction as he basked in her admiration for him.

Before Cayde knew it, the young Guardian was looking up at him with wide teary eyes and with her hands clasped together, "Can you teach me how to do that, pretty please?"

Cayde-6 visibly recoiled several steps back and flailed his arms around as if to ward of a physical assault but this was not something that anyone could defend themselves from, physically or otherwise.

Because of her height and youthful appearances, it was hard to judge Summer Rose's age before she died but she did looked like someone either in their mid teens or early twenties. It however didn't explain the Hunter Vanguard's current condition.

 **WARNING! WARNING! CUTENESS OVERLOAD! ENGAGING ANTI-PUPPY EYES SUBROUTINE!**

Never had he been so thankful for such a seemingly meaningless subroutine until now.

As if in response to the Exo's deployment of countermeasures, Summer suddenly appeared to have become smaller as her lower lip began to quiver slightly with a slight whimper to accompany it.

 **WARNING! WARNING! ANTI-PUPPY EYES SUBROUTINE HAS FAILED!**

It should be a crime against nature for anyone to be that adorable but the living proof was standing before him and was causing his processors overload from sheer cuteness.

In Cayde's defense, it took him ten seconds for him to cave in where anyone else would have done so in half that amount of time.

"Fine but this better not be a regular thing."

Little did he know that Summer Rose asking him for combat training did become a regular occurrence and she had become another one of his protégé as a result. She was also the cause of many troubles for him in the coming years but not once did Cayde ever regret going to that specific firing range to spend his free time that day.

That and Summer was somehow getting better with her puppy dog stare.


	28. The Cliched Calm Before the Storm Part 1

AN:

I skipped most of the lesson part because it would just sound like a massive info dump and I thought that it wouldn't really be interesting for those of you who play Destiny.

Because many of you were confused with the sudden introduction of Raven, I would like to point out that there was a timeskip of about a week at the end of the previous chapter and that this chapter will describe the events that occurred in that week.

Also, regarding the omake of the previous chapter: I wrote that omake before the Rise of Iron DLC came out with Summer Rose being Cayde-6's first student so I had not known about Shiro-4, who was already his first student at the time when I finished writing it. I had already corrected this mistake so no need to worry now.

00000

Chapter 28

 _About a week ago_

"I've had my reservations at first but disregarding the less than dignified start, you would actually make a splendid teacher if you only tried, Guardian," Drei happily said as he followed Summer Rose out of the auditorium.

"Not a chance," the Guardian refused without a second thought, "I rather be out there killing the baddies than telling others how to kill the baddies."

Summer was not interested in the slightest in a desk job and had grown to greatly enjoy her time out on the field. She wasn't going to be hanging up her blades and guns anytime soon nor will she let Cayde-6 try to rope her into being his replacement in the Vanguards like what he regularly does with his other protégé and her senior, Shiro-4.

Of course, there was very little, if any, chance of that happening since not even at his most desperate would the Hunter Vanguard ever consider handing over his position to the young Hunter. Maybe after a hundred years where Summer had finally matured to the handle the responsibilities of being a Vanguard without destroying the City in the process but as of now, she was never going to get the job even if she wanted to.

Which, thank the Traveler, she didn't.

In conclusion, the frontlines was where Summer belonged and she wasn't going to give it up just yet.

"Hey, mom!" a familiar young voice called out, making Summer pause for a moment

But her Ghost had a feeling that Summer might reconsider her belief as the red bundle of energy that was known as Ruby Rose skidded to a halt before the Guardian.

"Oh, hey Ruby," the White Rose greeted her daughter (still felt weird for her to say) with a jaunty wave and cheery grin, "I would say 'no running in the halls' but I'm not an actual teacher here so I won't say it."

"But you make an awesome teacher!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly with an awe-stricken face as mother and daughter walked out the building and into the courtyard, "I learned a ton of new stuff about the Vex and their weapons."

"Well, like I said before, I learned those myself while I was fighting them and as for their weapons, no one has ever really managed to successfully figure them out," Summer said as she put her hands behind her head and looked up in thought, "I have a modified Vex gun of my own and yet I still can't fully understand how the inner mechanisms besides the simple 'squeeze the trigger and energy bolts come out'."

"Also, she is not to be trusted with handling any Vex components," Drei felt the need to add as he hovered in the air beside Summer, "Not after what happened last time."

"What happened last ti-ooh…" she trailed off, having remembered the last time that she fiddled with Vex components, "Yeah, I'm never doing that again."

"Uh mom, what are you guys talking about?" Ruby asked in confusion as she stared at the haunted look on her mother's face.

"Ruby," the Guardian said as they stopped walking and she placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders, "Let's just say that Hive black magic should never mix with time-faring cyborg parts."

"Um, I don't know what you mean but okay?" the red hooded girl replied unsurely, feeling a bit disturbed with the former Huntress' behavior and how that statement sounded strangely specific.

"And that fire doesn't solve every problem," Summer continued as her eyes seemed to gaze into the distance, "Fire sometimes makes it worse."

Going back to earth (or Remnant as the case may be), the Guardian cleared her throat and tried to act like nothing happened, "Now where was I?"

"Oh right!" she lightly pounded her fist into her palm as she regained her train of thought and gazed down upon the young Huntress-in-training, "I wanted to-"

Whatever the Guardian was going to say was immediately cut off when a familiar blonde head got in between them and put her arms around their shoulders, pulling them in closer.

"Whatcha talking about?" Yang asked, barging into the conversation like it was the most natural thing to do.

Summer felt a twinge of irritation but not because of the brawler's sudden intrusion. It was because her older daughter just so happened to be around the same height as her.

For all of the White Rose's second life, she had been surrounded by people taller than her and was the subject of many short jokes from her fellow Guardians until she taught them the error of their ways through a series of spiteful and demeaning pranks in the Crucible matches.

Summer had believed her short stature was because she had died at a relatively young age but seeing her _fifteen year old_ daughter who was also lacking in the height department made her think that maybe shortness ran in the family.

Of course with both of them still having room to grow, there was a possibility that they might become taller than Summer someday, which she wasn't looking forward to in the slightest.

Pushing her height complex to the farthest reaches of her mind, the Guardian regarded her second daughter with a jovial smile, "We were just talking 'bout the lessons earlier, Yang."

"That sounds kinda boring," the blonde girl replied.

"Do you want me to regale you girls the tales of my great adventures in the wide void that is space instead?" the White Rose arched an amused eyebrow.

"Uugghh," the older sister groaned, "You sound like Professor Port."

Summer had no idea who this Port guy was but from what she could tell from her daughters' exaperated expressions, they don't have much regard for the man. She won't be hasty to judge their teacher without at least seeing him for herself though.

"Or I could just have Drei here show you a recording of it," the Guardian gestured towards the Ghost hovering next to them.

"Yes that would be the ideal course of action but I think it's about time for the girls' midday meal," the Ghost told them as he projected a holographic clock to emphasize the time, which was around noon, "Perhaps we could discuss this while you are dining."

That…sounded like a good idea. Maybe some food could ease the tension between them. Not like Summer actually needed to eat anymore but that was beside point.

"Wow, you sound a lot like Weiss," Ruby said as she and her older sister stared at the floating AI in bewilderment.

"Yeah, he kinda does sound like her," Yang agreed before adding her own two cents (or lien since they were on Remnant), "It's a bit weird."

"Does this Weiss person scold you over the simplest of things and regularly calls you a dolt?" Summer inquired for she couldn't help but find herself curious over what kind of person this Weiss that they spoke of was.

"Have you been spying on us, mom?" the brawler questioned as the two girls gave the Guardian strange looks, "Because there's no way you could have known about that without spying on us."

"Huh," Summer took a moment to ponder over this revelation. It was too weird for it to be a coincidence but at least she found some more common ground with her daughters.

It still felt a bit uncomfortable to refer to Ruby and Yang as her daughters but she was beginning to get used to it. Summer also felt very touched that the older of the two, who she knew wasn't really related to her by blood, called her 'mom'.

Maybe being a mother wasn't so bad after all.

00000

Lux Sylphid and Prometheus-23 stood proudly at the helm of the enormous Hive Dreadnaught after they had successfully passed the trial to earn ownership of the great weapon of mass destruction with the help of the legendary Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6.

They had fought the Taken for weeks on end before having to face the Shade of Crota in one final battle for the Dreadnaught. The Shade was by no means an ordinary foe but it paled in comparison to the more powerful myriad of beings that Fireteam Nero had slain over the years.

"I have a newfound respect for Summer," the Warlock announced as she stuck another cigarette into her mouth before lighting the tip up with a snap of her fingers, "If the real thing's supposed to be stronger than the Shade, then I could imagine how the little twerp fared against Crota."

"Well, she was the one to have dealt the final blow to the Son Oryx after all," Prometheus added as he stretched his servos to see if there were any damages, "Crota was also the first to make Summer…mad."

The members of Fireteam Nero were well acquainted with the White Rose's temper since they had seen it happen for themselves on several rare occasions and they were both rendered terrified of the young Hunter at she had briefly become.

Prometheus and Lux didn't want to admit it but they feared that if Summer were ever to fall to the Darkness like Dredgen Yor had, there were very little warriors with the power to put her down.

Even just thinking that treacherous thought of their beloved teammate left a bitter taste in their mouths (metaphorically for Prometheus' case since he had no taste buds to speak of) and immediately felt tremendously ashamed of it.

They were supposed to find a way to rescue their missing teammate, not dwell on how much of a threat to the Last City that she could potentially become.

Speaking of which…

"So do we fix the weapons now?" the Awoken asked grouchily, "Because it better not take fucking weeks to fix or I swear on the Traveler that I will-"

"Geez Lux, calm your tits," a synthesized masculine voice said from right behind that also wasn't either of her two Exo companions.

"KYAAA!" Lux uncharacteristically shrieked in surprise as she jumped into the Exo Titan's arms with her own arms around his neck. The members of Fireteam Nero turned their heads to see an Exo, wearing a yellow cloak, a studded vest and studded vambraces, was trying and failing to hide his amusement.

"Shiro, what the HELL!?" the Warlock angrily demanded, immediately identifying the latest addition to their unsanctioned taskforce to be Cayde-6's first protégé, Shiro-4.

Shiro-4 was the Vanguard's best scout and was tasked with eliminating the Fallen threats on Earth. Because he was an expert at silent assassinations, it was no wonder that he was able to sneak behind the two without their notice even though Prometheus and Lux were used to Summer's stealth methods.

The older Hunter was leagues better than the White Rose at stealth while she excelled in straight up combat.

If he was here, there was only one reason why.

"Am I correct to assume that you too are here to lend your aid to find our missing comrade?" the Titan inquired courteously in spite of still holding his other teammate in his arms.

"It's only natural for anyone to look out for their younger sibling so yeah," Shiro answered as his mentor sidled up next to him.

Many Guardians of the Tower thought that Shiro-4 and Summer Rose would form a sort of rivalry with one another due to both of them being students to the Hunter Vanguard but the two Hunters got along with each other pretty well over the years and could be called siblings in all but blood (and other squishy parts that organics have but Exos don't). This also made Cayde the butt of many friendly ribbing whenever he spoke highly of either of his 'kids' like a proud parent.

Of course, being a surrogate older brother to Summer, Shiro also joined in on eliminating any potential boyfriends before they could approach her. In fact, he was the main reason why Summer remained oblivious to her admirers as he covertly abducted them and then placed them in a secure location where either Fireteam Nero, Cayde or both would teach them a lesson regarding their infatuation with a certain young Hunter.

"I had Shiro here gather the materials Eris needed to make the replacement necrotic conduits while you two were clearing out the Dreadnaught," Cayde explained as he placed a hand on his student's shoulder, "All that's left was to pass the ownership ritual, which we just did."

"And while you guys were ripping the Crota-knock-off a new one, I installed the new conduits into the weapons systems but with an extra twist," Shiro added as the ship began to rumble, making Prometheus stumble a bit and lose his grip on Lux.

Before the Warlock could hit the ground in an undignified heap, a purple glow engulfed her hands and feet, which momentarily halted her descent. She was then slowly adjusted with the bottom of her feet pointed towards the floor. The purple glow dispersed harmlessly into the air as Lux landed lightly on the balls of her feet.

"Really Prometheus?" she deadpanned at her Titan companion with crossed arms.

"I am so sorry, Lux but I was caught by surprise," the Exo Titan sheepishly admitted.

The Awoken was about to retort but she stopped herself as she sensed the ship coming alive once more.

All Guardians may have the innate ability to vaguely sense the Light and Darkness in places, objects and people but Warlocks had far superior sensory powers for that and could even a sort of 'feel' for things. It could be compared to ESP while some would argue that it was in fact ESP.

Either way, Lux knew how the Dreadnaught felt like with its oppressing and suffocating aura of Darkness that heavily saturated its halls. The Warlock remembered that she felt like vomiting the first time that she stepped foot on the ship but much of its 'stench' had receded with the death of Oryx.

The atmosphere was different now as the Dreadnaught rumbled to life. It still held that same stench of Darkness that could be associated with the Taken but it felt repressed as if it needed one more thing to let out all of its power.

But what? 

"What the hell did you guys do?" Sylphid slowly asked as she warily surveyed their surroundings. For some reason, the sensation that the Warlock was feeling seemed to be familiar to her and then it hit her.

It felt like Thorn.

The Warlock could still remember the day when Summer Rose obtained the weapon of sorrow. The young Hunter looked like a child on Christmas day as she showed it off to the rest of Fireteam Nero. Lux was immediately repulsed by the accursed hand cannon because to her, the weapon felt like a caged beast just waiting to be unleashed and she was afraid to put her hand close to it lest she would lose it.

The Awoken would have insisted that Summer got rid of the damn thing then and there if it wasn't for the fact that it seemed to be content in the hands of her younger teammate. She then knew that Thorn had accepted the White Rose as its rightful owner and would only let its deadly magic ecape if Summer allowed it.

That was what Lux could sense.

"It wouldn't do to bring the Dreadnaught back online as its previous state so we altered the controls a bit by adding some of the Traveler's Light into them," the Hunter Vanguard explained, fully aware of what Lux Sylphid could sense, "Without a Guardian's Light to focus the Hive magic in the ship, it won't activate."

"Thus only Guardians could use the Dreadnaught," Lux finished, not bothering to use a swear word due to her awe, "That's pretty impressive."

"What should we do now?" Prometheus asked as he too realized the implications of what his fellow Exos had done to the Hive ship.

"I'll go back to Earth to report this to the rest of the Vanguard while you guys figure out how to fly this thing," Shiro answered, "Don't want you guys to accidently destroy a moon or a planet while you're trying to save Summer."

"You're not gonna stick around to watch the fireworks?" the Warlock wondered.

"Nah, I'll pass," the yellow garbed Exo declined, "Besides, what's left of the House of Devils are mobilizing on Earth. Word has spread of Summer's disappearance even among our enemies and they're becoming bolder because of it so somebody's got to teach them a lesson that it's not just Summer they have to be afraid of."

"They'll never know what hit them," Lux smirked visciously as Shiro was about to make his exit.

"Of course, they won't," the master assassin said as he stepped into the shadows and completely vanished without a trace from their radars.

00000

The Guardian sat next to her younger daughter, Ruby as she recounted one of her adventures in space to the rest of Team RWBY, Team JNPR and Team CFVY (who had joined them shortly after they sat down).

"I grabbed an explosive and then shoved it and my arm way up inside him," Summer Rose narrated as she represented the bomb with an apple and then forcefully shoving it into the hole of a cooked turkey, "It went in like elbow deep and the alien warlord was screaming so high that he _literally_ shattered glass with his cries alone."

The more immature students of the teams burst into uncontrollable laughter at what the Guardian had done to the alien known as Skolas while the more amiable or dignified winced in sympathy for the alien despite being told that Skolas was one of the most violent tyrants that he made the White Fang look like cranky puppies in comparison.

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" Blake grimaced at the imagery of Summer shoving a bomb up an alien's ass and couldn't help but imagine the White Rose doing the same to Adam Taurus.

The arrest of the White Fang and the death of its most prominent members had been kept from public knowledge since the Atlas military agreed to keep Summer's involvement a secret for now and the media was too focused on the alien threat to investigate the sudden disappearance of the White Fang's presence so Blake had no idea that her former mentor was dead or that Summer was the one that killed him.

"Not really," Summer shrugged indifferently, "But I _did_ think I went too far when I spread the video of it across the galaxy."

They had to admit that spreading the humiliating video _was_ worse.

"Especially when I found out I couldn't pull my arm out or at least not on my own," she added, reminiscing that particular event, "My teammates had to hold onto me while the Queen's soldiers held onto Skolas before we all started pulling. I'm not sure if it's a trait of their race or just Skola' but he had a pretty tight sphincter that it took a while to separate us."

"Damn, you should have just killed the poor bastard," Coco frowned in disgust, "I know he sounds like a bad guy but _geeze_."

"Yeah," Summer admitted, "But I did get a whole lot of weapons as a reward for capturing him alive so silver lining, right?"

Ruby instantly perked up at the mention of weapons, "Ooh, what kind of weapons? Are they the ones that you have right now?"

"You mean Bolt-caster and Thorn?" she patted the aforementioned weapons fondly, "Not really but I'm more of a collector of different kinds of weapons than a wielder. I could show you my collection if you want."

Seeing the excited look on her daughter's face gave Summer an idea, "Better yet, why don't I give your weapons certified Guardian upgrades?"

00000

AN:

To the guest reviewer who keeps asking about it: There! You happy now?


	29. The Cliched Calm Before the Storm Part 2

AN:

Just a few questions before I start the chapter:

Peter Dinklage or Nolan North? Which voice actor do you think suits Drei better?

If you had to pick a voice actor for Lux Sylphid and Prometheus-23, who would they be?

Do you imagine Summer Rose being voiced by Tara Strong or is it just me?

00000

Chapter 29

Saturn was the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in the Sol System, after Jupiter. It was a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. Although only one-eighth the average density of Earth, with its larger volume, Saturn was just over ninety-five times more massive.

The planet had a prominent ring system that consisted of nine continuous main rings and three discontinuous arcs. Those rings were composed mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust along with a number of derelict ships of the Golden Age and the recent addition from the Awoken and the Hive.

Sixty-two moons were known to orbit Saturn, not counting the hundreds of moonlets comprising the rings. Over half of the official moons were reduced to mere space debris during the Collapse but Saturn's largest moon, coincidently named Titan continued to endure well past the Collapse and onto modern time.

Not only did Titan have its own substantial atmosphere but it also seemed like it would continue to persist until the end of time much like the Guardian class that shared the same name as it.

That was until it exploded into millions of pieces without warning.

"Shit, I totally did not mean to do that," Lux Sylphid winced as she stared at the projection of what was left of the second largest moon in the Sol System.

The Warlock sat on a throne that was designed for someone over twice the size of the Awoken so she looked like a mere child sitting on a chair far too big for it. An array of glowing otherworldly runes surrounded her, which she could interact with some like buttons on a touch screen. The runes would have been beyond comprehension for anyone, be they Guardian or not but with the help of Toland's journal, Lux was able to have a meager understanding of them to help control the Dreadnaught.

But it was not enough to avoid any adverse repercussion as she had accidently activated the weapons system and destroyed one of Saturn's moons.

Hopefully no one would notice that, right?

Her comms instantly came to life and she could hear the frantic voices of Cayde-6 and Prometheus-23 through it.

The two Exos were outside of the Dreadnaught in their jumpships to better examine the hull breach caused by the Skyburners' ship, the Dantalion Exodus VI as best as they could so they could find a good method to fix it. It wouldn't do to have a flagship with another smaller ship sticking out of it.

So they too witnessed Saturn's largest moon being completely vaporized and had assumed that the worst had befallen the person who was supposed to figure out how to fly the Dreadnaught.

"Lux, are alright!? Respond!"

"By the Traveler, please tell me she's fine, Cayde!"

"I'm fine," the Warlock replied, easing the two Exos' worries, "But I may have destroyed one of Saturn's moons by mistake."

"…What?" the Hunter Vanguard and the Titan deadpanned through the comm lines.

"Look! The controls were too big. I had trouble reaching some of the buttons and my hand just…slipped!" Lux tried to explain but it sounded ridiculous even to her ears.

Prometheus let out a deep sigh to express his frustration with his teammate. He may love the other two members of Fireteam Nero like they were his family but dealing with both Summer Rose and Lux Sylphid could be quite trying at times. If he wasn't so patient to a fault, he would have broken under the stress a long time ago.

But it was a good thing that Exos couldn't get headaches or it would have made the Titan's patience falter ever so slightly.

"Yeeeaaahhh, that is not gonna work for Zavala and Ikora so you better give me a better excuse or you might face expulsion for this," Cayde warned her.

"Uuuhhh…" the Awoken tried to rack her brain with something that was a far better explanation to what she gave them earlier before she tentatively proposed, "We could blame it on the Cabal?"

The Cabal's most common strategy was to use excessive firepower to overwhelm their enemies and if it didn't work the first, then they weren't using enough. They were also well known to vaporize moons and planets for the simple reason of being in their way so it wouldn't be overselling to say that the Cabal was responsible for the destruction of the second largest moon in the Sol System.

"Alright, the Cabal tried to take control of the Dreadnaught so we activated the weapons system and shot them down in retaliation, destroying one of Saturn's moons in the process," the Exo Hunter said as if recounting actual events that happened earlier, "That's our story and we're sticking with it, got it?"

"Got it/Understood," Lux and Prometheus voiced their affirmation at the same time.

00000

Saying that Ruby had a deep fondness for weapons was like saying that the sky was blue or the moon was shattered. It was not uncommon for the young leader to openly gush over other people's weapons and imagine the various ways that they could be used in combat.

But the majority of her adoration fell unto her own weapon, Crescent Rose. The scythe-sniper rifle hybrid was her own creation and Ruby held immense pride for it since it was a weapon that she could call her own and she knew that Crescent Rose would never fail her.

Except for when…

00000

 _The massive curved blade sunk into the flesh of the woman as the tip burst out through the back with blood spurting out like a crimson flower in bloom. Horrified, the wielder quickly pulled the scythe out of the woman with a wet slick and the woman collapsed to her knees._

 _The woman's helmet came off and fell to the ground to reveal the face of Summer Rose to the person who had just impaled her._

" _Mom?"_

00000

Ruby tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault so many times but to no avail even with the help of her loved ones. Logically speaking, there was no way for her to know that her mother was still alive and that she was one that had fought and beaten Qrow so Ruby had done all that she can under the circumstances. She shouldn't blame herself for what she had no control of.

But in her heart, that moment would haunt the young girl for her whole life and even though she hid it very well, a part of her innocence died that day as well.

The Red Reaper even felt a bit of relief when the instrument of her mother's death, Crescent Rose was broken in half in spite all of the hardwork that she put into building it in the first place. Everytime she looked at the scythe, she couldn't help but think back to when she plunged its blade into her beloved mother so she actually delayed Crescent Rose's repairs.

But then her mother said this:

"Better yet, why don't I give your weapons certified Guardian upgrades?"

00000

"Guardian, I don't think it's wise to experiment with something like this," Drei nervously said, "Especially when it involves weapons. Maybe we should wait after the Vex are dealt with and then take them to see Banshee-44 or Lord Shaxx for upgrading their weapons."

As talented that Summer may be with handling weapons, she still had a lot to learn before she could reach the same level as the old Exo gunsmith and the Crucible Handler. Even the improvements that she gave Wilt and Blush would be considered subpar to those two. Either of them would do a better job with providing adequate upgrades for Team RWBY's weapons than the young Guardian could.

"Drei, who knows how long it would take us to deal with the Vex or to find a way back to Earth," Summer replied, waving off his idea dismissively before adding through their telepathic link, _"Besides, this would be a good time to spend time with my kids."_

Every Guardian could communicate with their Ghost telepathically due to their souls being so intertwined with the Ghost's existence that the older Guardians had trouble distinguishing their individuality from their Ghosts. It wasn't unusual for the pair to develop a link between their minds but with the Ghost's supercomputer-like mind, they rarely used it for long periods of time unless they were Exos.

It could still be used to deliver short non-verbal messages.

Drei had to concede to Summer's argument but he still had some reservations for this idea. Nevertheless, he would follow his Guardian's lead since his purpose was to provide support for his partner.

"Really!?" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, reminding the Ghost of a certain weapon enthusiast.

Drei found it quite disconcerting that the young girl was the spitting image of his Guardian. The leader of Team RWBY also appeared to share the same mannerisms with the White Rose that if he didn't know any better, he would have thought the young Hunter had tried to clone herself again and that Ruby here was the result of it.

"I don't see why not," Summer said with a friendly smile before she glanced towards the other students, "Your friends are welcome to join us for upgrades if they want."

"Well, I do need to repair my Gambol Shroud," Blake chimed in, "One of the blades was damaged during the attack and I haven't found the time to have it fixed yet. I might as well add some improvements while I'm at it."

"I don't see how Myrtenaster needs any improvements," Weiss said haughtily, remembering how her older sister held a grudge with the White Rose, "But I do wish to see how a Guardian's weapons matches against a Huntsman."

"Sure, I'm game. Anything to make us more awesome," Yang grinned, brimming with confidence before she turned to Team JNPR and Team CFVY, "What about you guys?"

Having nothing else better to do besides either practicing or waiting to be dispatched on a mission, Team JNPR decided to accompany the all-female team and the Guardian for weapon upgrades.

The blonde boy named Jaune Arc appeared to be very eager for a better and cooler weapon since all he had was a simple broadsword and a sheath that could change into a shield.

Unfortunately, Team CFVY couldn't join them since they were supposed to depart for a mission later. Due to the second year team already having extensive experience with the Vex, the Headmaster saw it fit to send them to one of the remaining outposts to reinforce its defenses.

After bidding their upperclassmen friends good-bye and good luck, Teams RWBY and JNPR led Summer to the workshop where students could perform maintenance on their weapons.

Besides the gaping hole that led to the outside, the room was in relatively operational conditions. It came equipped with everything one needed to perform weapon maintenance and its location was also convenient since it was next to the locker rooms where their weapons were being kept most of the time so the students wouldn't have to go far. There was even a firing range to check if the weapons were functioning on optimal conditions.

A quick check from Drei informed her that the walls of the firing range were heavily reinforced to prevent any misfires from the other side but since most of her guns that she had on the Cloud Errant were equipped with armour-piercing capabilities, the Ghost warned her to refrain from using them or to not aim at the same spot for so long or else they would punch a hole straight through the walls.

"Alright ladies!" Summer loudly announced before she added as an after thought, "And gentlemen."

"May I present to you the fruits of my labor! My tools of death and destruction! My sweethearts!" she boldly declared to her captivated audience (mostly Ruby and Nora Valkyrie) before she took out something from her inventory and then placed it on the ground with a resounding bang, "BEHOLD!"

The Guardian stepped back to reveal to the two first year teams a small cylinder shaped object on the floor. Whatever they were expecting, this certainly wasn't it and they were seriously underwhelmed by it. As they were about to voice their thoughts, blue particles errupted from the object and they gathered together to form a rack with over dozens of guns hanging in display.

And this collection was nothing compared to what Summer had back in the Tower.

Ruby and Nora were shaking so much in excitement that if the others were paying attention to the young girl and were not rendered speechless of the sudden appearance of the weapons, they would have feared that the two hyperactive girls might spontaneously combust on the spot.

"Wha-but how-where?" Weiss babbled as she stared uncomprehendingly at the rack of guns that appeared out of nowhere.

"I set up a transmat zone so Drei could transport the armoury I had on my ship here," Summer explained while not really explaining at the same time since they had no idea what a transmat zone was.

Before the young heiress could demand a proper explanation, the Guardian took out a sleek grey automatic rifle that had a short barrel and a simple iron sights. She removed the magazine to see if it was full and then jammed it back in with an audible clack.

"This little puppy is called the Hard Light. It's an ionized polymer synballistic attack platform designed for tactical spaces," Summer said as she cocked the rifle and aimed it at the firing range with one hand. Holding a rifle with two hands would increase her accuracy but with this special tactical assault rifle and the enclosed space like the hall of the firing range, accuracy was no longer needed.

Squeezing the trigger, she unleashed the entire contents of the magazine across the firing range and the bullets trailing through the air resembled more like lines of light at the velocity that they were. The projectiles soon reached the metal targets but only a few managed to hit them.

However, the bullets that hit completely penetrated the targets and slammed into the wall behind it, leaving small holes with the edges slightly glowing orange on the metal panels. It was impressive since those targets were also made to take a whole lot of damage before they needed to be replaced.

It didn't stop there though.

The bullets that initially missed their target either into the walls on the side of the firing rang, the floor or the ceiling before they ricocheted off the hard surfaces and headed towards the metal targets while the ones that hit the targets bounced off the back wall and hit the targets once more.

In a matter of seconds, all of the targets in the firing range were turned into many tiny pieces of slightly steaming scrap metal as Summer smoothly slid the empty magazine out and then jammed in a new one.

Hard Light may not be infused with the Solar attribute but the projectiles that it shot moved fast enough to generate heat on its own to cause some minor burns on their victims and would almost instantly cauterize the inflicted wounds.

"Well then," the Guardian said as the gun in her hand dispersed into blue particles and rematerialized back in its place on one of the weapons racks while she turned to see the students reactions, "What do you think?"

The slackjawed expressions on most of their faces and Ruby's starry-eyed look told all Summer needed to know. Expectedly, the young leader was the first to recover.

"That was AMAZING!" she exclaimed in excitement as she adorably beamed up at her mother.

"I'm glad you like it," Summer stated cheerfully.

Hard Light was a highly impractical weapon even by the quirky Hunter's standards so she wouldn't normally bring it to battle but it was great for turning a hallway into virtual meat grinder and also for showing off. With its ricocheting bullets, she made sure that the bullets wouldn't bounce back and hit them instead since they had a tendency for friendly fire if handled incorrectly.

"You wanna see what the rest can do?" the Guardian suggested, gesturing to the rest of the weapons on the rack.

"Boy, do I!?" Ruby replied, looking like Christmas had just come early for her.

"Alright but first show me yours," Summer told the girl, making her deflate from her good mood.

"But I-it's-I mean," the red hooded girl nervously stammered as if trying to divert the subject to somewhere else while her mother waited patiently.

"It-it was broken during the Vex attack the other day and I haven't really gotten around to fixing it yet," Ruby finally said, nervously rubbing her arm and looking to the side.

"…This makes now a good time as any to have it repaired," Summer said, thinking of several ways to go about fixing what she remembered of her daughter's weapon, "And while we're at it, I can add some adjustments so it won't break so easily next time."

"With that said, do you want a fire scythe? Because I think a fire scythe would be awesome!"

Mood brightening, Ruby beamed at her mother as they began to throw potential weapon upgrades back and forth. Team JNPR and the rest of Team RWBY felt like they trespassing on a particularly private moment between mother and daughter while Yang smiled fondly at the scene with just the barest hints of jealousy.

Ruby had always been their mother's daughter and it was something that the brawler couldn't help but be a bit envious of. She also felt a little left out.

Summer may not be Yang's biological mother but she loved her just the same.

"You children should inform her on what kind of upgrades that you desire for your weapons now," Drei told them, taking note of the older sister's expression, "At this rate, they might take hours before coming to a final decision."

"You're right, thanks," the blonde girl said, grateful to the Ghost for including her into the conversation between the Rose family.

Yang didn't know what to make of the mystical artificial intelligence that had resurrected Summer at first and she might have a resented Drei for taking their mother away from them for so long but she was starting to believe that he wasn't so bad after all.

00000

AN:

Okay, this might be a dick move to end it right here but as much as I wanted to write the upgrading of the weapons, I don't have the time for it if I wanted to meet my personal deadline of posting a chapter every week so I will give you guys a basic description of what I have decided for Crescent Rose instead.

Crescent Rose:

Void damage - this weapon causes Void damage.

Mecha-shift – this weapon could transform between a melee weapon (scythe) and a gun (sniper rifle).

Warp Reaper (can only be used in conjunction with Ruby's semblance) – launches the wielder at high speeds towards the enemy while coating their body with the power of Void to deflect minor attacks and to 'phase' through obstacles en route to their target.

Accurized Ballistics – More range and impact but increased recoil.

Mulligan – missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine.

Lightweight – when held, this weapon grants bonus agility.

Thus Kindly, I Scatter – The wielder becomes invisible for a short time after rapidly killing three enemies in a row with Warp Reaper.

I know a lot of people wanted Ruby to use either Arc or Solar but Robo Reader 21 was the only one to have suggested to use Void and it then got me thinking. Remember in the Red Trailer where we first see Ruby fight Beowolves with her deadly mechanical scythe. It was confirmed later on that she used gravity Dust to propel herself faster and farther so that is what made the final decision for me since I figured it would work better for Ruby that way.

That and I just love the comedy skit from RWBY Chibi episode 3 where Ruby is testing out different kinds of Dust with Crescent Rose. I chuckled when she was thrown back by the gravity Dust.

As for Warp Reaper (name subject to change if you don't like it), I based it on the biotic charge from Mass Effect and before you ask, I am indeed a huge fan of Mass Effect so look up the Mass Effect biotic charge on youtube or something if you want an idea on how Warp Reaper would look like.


	30. The Cliched Calm Before the Storm Part 3

AN:

Some people has expressed their dislike for the name "Warp Reaper" so please give me suggestions for the new name or choose between the replacement names that I have listed down here:

Will-o'-the-Wisp Cutter

Void Fang

Abyss Reaper

Specter Slash

Revenant Dash

And finally, Grim Reaper ( a bit cliché, I know but a guest reviewer suggested it)

Leave your choice in the reviews later.

00000

Chapter 30

"This is Relic Iron," Summer Rose told Ruby Rose watching her with complete focus as the Guardian dropped a fist-sized lump of reddish-brown metal on the workbench where the scythe-sniper rifle hybrid, Crescent laid in halves. It made a loud bang as it landed on the table's surface, informing the young girl of the metal's weight in spite of its relatively small size.

"Of course, its composition is far different from actual iron and as you can see, far denser as well," the White Rose said as the leader of Team RWBY picked up the lump of Relic Iron and tested the weight for herself, "Anything made out of Relic Iron has very little if any chance of ever being broken so you don't have to worry over your baby ever being broken."

There were actually some beings that were capable of shattering equipment made out of Relic Iron. Some of them were the most powerful Guardians in the Tower while a majority of the malevolent ones were killed off by Summer Rose so the possibility of Ruby facing one such being in battle was very low.

"It's kinda heavy," Ruby noted as she tossed the Guardian-issued metal up and down a bit, "If I use this to fix Crescent Rose, it would throw off the whole weight and balance. I wouldn't be able to use swing her fast enough to land a blow on the enemy."

"That's why we're folding another substance into the weapon," the Guardian replied as she placed another lump of alien metal on the workbench and the red hooded girl began to examine the metal's weight too. It was silver in color, lighter in comparison to the Relic Iron and seemed to give off this rather empty sensation, which Ruby found to be quite strange for a metal.

Like the Relic Iron, it was a metal that the younger Rose had never seen before. She also doubted anyone on Remnant had ever seen something like those materials before due to their otherworldly origins.

"That is Hadium," Summer explained as she took the second metal from Ruby's hand, "It's a highly malleable reactive metal that stores whatever energy it is exposed to."

"And how does that help?" Ruby asked, eying the sample of Hadium curiously.

"Can you think of a kind of energy that could manipulate gravity?" her mother answered her question with another question, making the young silver eyed girl ponder over the question.

An energy that could manipulate gravity, huh?

"You're going to expose this Hadium stuff with gravity Dust and then add it to Crescent Rose to make it lighter while the Relic Iron would not only reinforce her but act as a counterbalance for the Dust infused Hadium so it wouldn't be _too_ light!" the Red Reaper realized with a start, earning a proud smile from the Guardian for her quick deduction of her goals, "That's genius!"

"Yes and no," the Hunter replied as her hand, the one holding the Hadium started to emit purple light and then the light appeared to _flow_ into the metal until it was the one emitting that same purple energy.

Summer released the glowing Hadium and let it fall back to the workbench except there was one small problem.

It didn't.

As if it was no longer bound by the constraints of gravity, the Hadium hovered in place and looked like it wasn't going to fall anytime soon.

"There are other ways to manipulate gravity besides using gravity Dust," Summer clarified, seeing the astounded look on her daughter's face, "And that is the power of the Void. As a Guardian, I can tap into the Void and wield its gifts for my own."

"Like a semblance?"

"Like magic."

00000

Ozpin hadn't had a single drop of coffee for a while now. His mug was left untouched on his desk as the caffeinated beverage had long since gone cold. Yet, he didn't seem to mind the wasted drink in the slightest.

This spoke on many levels that he was not in a good mood at all.

The reason for his foul mood was because of the screen that displayed three black shadows. These shadows were the Council of Vale and they demanded from the Headmaster of Beacon something that he nor they had the authority or the right to.

"Summer Rose has clearly stated that she no longer answers to me or the Council and that she is merely cooperating with us for our continued survival against the Vex," he spoke firmly, his shaded spectacles not hiding the disdain that he held for the black shadows, "I cannot and will not order her to hand over her advanced technology, including her Ghost to you. In spite of her actions in the beginning, Ms. Rose had aided us in our time of need and will continue to do so but not if you are to foolishly provoke her."

"Summer Rose has in her possession technology that are decades if not centuries more advanced than what we have today," one of the Councilmen spoke up as he waved a dark arm with as much emotion as an Atlesian android, "Her tools could not only strengthen our military but our very economy. There are over dozens of areas that could be improved if we transfer them to our custody."

"And risk the wrath of a Guardian bearing down upon you," Ozpin coldly retorted as his cane creaked from the strain that he was putting on it with his grip, "And not only that, you would also make an enemy of an entire city that has a superior military force than all of the four kingdoms combined."

"I hardly believe that a single rogue Huntress could cause so much damage before she is contained," the second shadow of the Council scoffed arrogantly but pointedly ignoring the second argument.

"With all due respect, Councilman," the regally dressed general of Atlas, James Ironwood interjected, "Summer Rose was able to completely decimate an entire army of Vex in less than a minute. If it wasn't for her, there wouldn't be a city left for you to govern. If Ms. Rose were to become our enemy, then there is very little that we could do to stop her. And if she doesn't kill us first, then her people _will_ when they eventually arrive to retrieve her."

The green cladded professor was slightly surprised that the Atlesian general would side with him over this matter especially when Ironwood was just about to have Ozpin's position as head of security for the Vytal Festival revoked before the second invasion occurred but nevertheless, he was grateful to his old friend for at least seeing the bigger picture than these bigoted fools.

"As it stands now, Summer Rose is more valuable to us as a willing ally," Ozpin added with a tone of finality, "It would be disastrous for all of Remnant if she ever became an active threat."

The former Huntress was already considered a high-priority threat back when they had mistakenly assume that she was an enemy and the White Rose was not trying hard to be one at the time. They could imagine what would happen if she ever _did_ decided to go rogue.

As much as the four kingdoms would gain from Summer Rose's technology, it would highly outweighed by the many risks that came with it. In short, it just wasn't worth it.

However, it didn't look like the Council of Vale were convinced in the least and they were about to continue their argument over the matter but they thought better of it.

Summer Rose was no longer the loyal Huntress that would follow their orders without question and she herself had declared as such but what finally swayed them from their original decisions was something else entirely.

Unbeknownst to the two Headmasters, each of the three Councilmen had received a high-alert message on their personal Scrolls and the blood drained from their faces as they read it. The message was as short as it was damning.

" _Don't even think about it or you'll regret it."_

What came after that single line was a stylized flame-like rose that the Councilmen knew very well. After all, it was the personal emblem of Summer Rose.

This did not bode well for the leaders of Vale. The intended tool for their political agendas was already aware of their intentions. If they were to still go through with their plans, then the White Rose would expose them and disrupt them completely.

Even though Summer Rose's return had not been long, she was already hailed as a savior by the people of Vale and it would be the end of their careers if the citizens discovered that they planned to betray her and use her as a test subject.

As much as the Council wanted to further the advancements of their kingdom, they weren't willing to commit political suicide anytime soon.

Nevertheless, they still had the remains of the Vex in their custody. There was much to learn from studying the alien species in spite of Summer Rose's warnings over the dangers of tampering with Vex technology. They were confident that they could eventually control the alien technology and make it their own.

00000

"What a bunch of fools," Drei sneered in distaste as he secretly accessed the Council of Vale's private plans, "They honestly believe that their scientists could control Vex technology."

Not even the greatest minds of the Ishtar Collective could fully grasp the inner workings of Vex technology and these primitive fools thought they could when they couldn't even prevent a single Ghost from completely taking over their entire network.

Even Guardians suffered negative side effects for using Vex technology for long periods of time. Only the Warlock, Osiris and his followers could safely wield the genocidal cyborg's technology for their own but sadly, not many of them were still around.

Not counting Summer's fireteammate, Lux Sylphid, who was a member of the Cult of Osiris in her past life.

The Cult of Osiris didn't only contained former Guardians but also some ordinary citizens from the Last City and the Reef. The short-tempered Awoken left the Reef to become one of Osiris' followers in her previous life.

Lux was also apparently close with Brother Vance before she died that he gave her a Cuirass of the Hezen Lords that was altered to not give the wearer negative side effects as a gift when the Awoken met the Disciple of Osiris as a Guardian. Even though Lux had very little memories of the man, he was still overjoyed to see (metaphorically speaking since Vance was blind) her alive and well again.

But the people of Remnant were not ready for Golden Age technology just yet let alone Vex technology. Their tampering with forces that that they do not understand will only lead them to ruin.

Well, the Ghost wasn't going to let his Guardian's old home destroy themselves but luckily, it was child's play for him to arrange for several 'accidents' to occur to every convoy transporting Vex remains before they could arrive to their assigned facilities.

Now with that taken care off, he turned his focus to the man, who was babbling at inhuman speeds. A normal person wouldn't have been able to keep up with the hyperactive man but the Ghost could understand him just fine since his mind could process information hundreds of times faster than the average person.

The man in question had messy green hair and sapphire blue eyes. His attire was disheveled with his white shirt partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, showing a slack yellow tie, along with mismatched brown and black shoes. He also had round glasses that appeared to be opaque.

This man was Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, a professor at Beacon. To be more specific, he was the history teacher and he was quite interested learn more of humanity's history from the Ghost.

"Remarkable!" the doctor all but shouted, "Not just an entire kingdom separate from the established four but an entire planet and that Remnant was formerly a colony of this civilization! Endless possibilities! Drei was it? You must tell me all that you can of your kingdom! Its age, history, geography, culture technology, all of it!"

"I can see that you're very eager to learn more of humanity's history and I have to say that you came to the right person," Drei smugly preened over the professor's attention before he turned to regard the rest of Team RWBY and Team JNPR who were admiring some of Summer's weapon collection, "It's going to be a while until my Guardian and her daughter are finished so you children might as well learn something productive while I entertain the good doctor here."

"Aww but I wanna shoot this AWESOME bad boy!" the orange haired girl that he recalled to be named Nora Valkyrie hefted the intricately designed Gjallahorn over her shoulder.

Drei was aware of the girl's record of extensive property damage and he knew that letting her unleash the destructive might of the Gjallahorn would definitely be a terrible idea so he quickly dematerialized the rocket launcher from her hands and stored it in his databanks before she could figure out how to turn the Gjallahorn's safety off.

"Hey!" Nora cried out indignantly as the Gjallahorn vanished from her grip.

"I barely trust my own Guardian to wield that weapon," the Ghost dryly stated as he glared at the hammer user, "I'm afraid that you might accidently send this entire school crumbling to the ground if I allow you to wield the Gjallahorn."

"That rocket launcher can't be that powerful," the secret-faunus (the bow did not fool him or his Guardian in the least) said as she examined the pulse rifle, No Time to Explain with a critical eye yet not even coming close to understanding the full mechanisms of the gun. Blake eventually gave up trying to figure No Time to Explain out and she placed the rifle back in its place on the rack when her amber eyes caught a very familiar sight.

"There are very little armour that could withstand the sheer destructive power of the Gjallahorn for long and just a few shots from this masterpiece could slay any manner of Grimm on this planet," Drei explained as he didn't notice the former White Fang member's shaking hand slowly reached out for the latest addition to Summer Rose's collection.

"There are only a limited number of the Gjallahorn in existen-" he continued but was interrupted by the cat faunus.

"I know this weapon," Blake held the sheathed form of Wilt and Blush as she eyed it like she couldn't entirely believe what she was seeing, "The color's different but I can recognize this anywhere."

"H-how did Summer come into possesion of Adam's sword!?" the former White Fang member spun around to glare at the Ghost with accusation and fury in her teary eyes, "Tell me!"

To quote his Guardian: oh boy.

00000

"If we adjust this here, we might be able to increase the range and impact of your shots in exchange for a stronger recoil," Summer Rose trace her finger over the muzzle of Crescent Rose as she listed off the attributes of the weapon that they could improve on, "Normally, this would be a problem but since you incorporate the recoil of your shots into your swings to increase the cutting power of the scythe, you should expect a significant boost in your strikes."

The Guardian waited for a response from the young Huntress-in-training but only received silence. She turned her head to see what was the matter and saw that Ruby had fallen asleep with her arms acting as some sort of cushion for her head as the young girl snored lightly.

The White Rose took note of the dark spots under the girl's closed eyes. Materializing a blanket from Drei's databanks, she was about to placed the soft frabic over her daughter's shoulders but froze when she heard the girl beginning to whimper in her sleep.

Summer knew in an instant that Ruby was having another nightmare and she didn't need to guess what it was about. She felt responsible for causing the young girl so much pain. Ruby shouldn't have to suffer for the Guardian's mistakes.

Guilt painfully clenched at the Hunter's heart harder than every wound that she had ever endured in her entire career as a Guardian and she wished that she could ease her daughter's burdens even just a little bit.

Then it came to her.

As if remembering a long forgotten memory with absolute clarity, Summer began a slow, melancholic yet hopeful ballad as she sat down next to her daughter and held the girl closer resting the girl's head on her shoulder.

(AN: Play "All Our Days" by Casey Lee Williams)

 _~Long ago, before we met,~_

 _~I dreamed about you.~_

 _~The peace you'd bring.~_

 _~The songs we'd sing.~_

 _~The way you'd make things new.~_

 _~Then one day, you arrived.~_

 _~I heard your angel cry.~_

 _~Helpless, small, and perfect,~_

 _~Welcome to your life.~_

 _~And on that day, I made a vow.~_

 _~Whispered and true.~_

 _~No matter what, no matter how,~_

 _~I made this promise to you.~_

 _~I will cling, I will clutch,~_

 _~I'll hold onto you, I won't turn away.~_

 _~I won't leave, I won't go,~_

 _~I will stay with you all our days.~_

 _~Years of joy have passed since then.~_

 _~With time I've seen you grow.~_

 _~Watched you play, new each day.~_

 _~I begged the time to slow.~_

 _~And though I miss the little girl,~_

 _~You've made me awful proud.~_

 _~Funny how our lives change,~_

 _~'Cause you're my hero now.~_

 _~But things in life will rearrange.~_

 _~Friends come and go~._

 _~Don't ever doubt, don't ever fear,~_

 _~I'm always here and you know.~_

 _~I will cling, I will clutch,~_

 _~I'll hold onto you, I won't turn away.~_

 _~I won't leave, I won't go,~_

 _~I will stay with you all our days.~_

 _~I will stay with you all our days.~_

As Summer's soft melodic voice sang the last line of the song, Ruby's face now sported a more peaceful smile and she unconsciously snuggled closer to the Guardian's side, feeling comforted by her mother's soothing song and warmth.

A warm smile formed on Summer's face as she gazed down at the serenely sleeping face of her daughter. She wasn't sure where that song came from but maybe the old Summer Rose wasn't completely gone as the Guardian thought she was.


	31. The Cliched Calm Before the Storm Part 4

AN:

To the guest reviewer nomad27, please either stop with the questions about the story or make your own account if you want me to answer them so badly. I know you're curious and possibly a big fan of the story but I don't make it a habit to respond to guest reviewers all the time so the next time you ask me questions about the story in guest reviews, I will delete them. Reviews are meant to be just that, reviews. I'm fine with questions as long as you give me your thoughts of the story as well though.

Here are the list of RWBY weapons that got upgraded (it's only for Team RWBY at the moment):

Crescent Rose – _"It's also a gun!"_ :

Void Damage

Mecha-shift – this weapon can transform between a melee weapon and a gun

Accurized Ballistics – more range and impact but increased recoil

Mulligan – missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine

Grimm's Reaper (can only be used in conjunction with Ruby's semblance) – launches the wielder at high speeds towards the enemy while coating their body with the power of Void to deflect minor attacks and to 'phase' through obstacles en route to their target

Lightweight – when held, this weapon grants bonus agility

Tempered Light - increased armour when wielding this weapon

Thus Kindly, I Scatter – grants invisibility for a short time after rapidly killing three enemies with Grimm's Reaper

Myrtenaster – _"Who's the loneliest of all?"_ :

Kinetic Damage

Tempered Light – increased armour when wielding this weapon

Thrive by the Sword – kills with this weapon grant Super energy (kills will instead replenish some Aura since the wielder is not a Guardian)

Royal Test – damage type, shields and glyphs change depending on the kind of ammo currently loaded into the chamber

Warrior of Light – increased damage for the wielder's attack

Scabbard - increased sword ammo capacity

Mirror Mirror (currently locked until the wielder masters the summoning glyph) – creates a doppelganger (takes either the shape of the wielder or of a giant knight) of Light that mimics the wielder's every movement. WARNING: wielder will take damage if the doppelganger is hit and vice versa

Gambol Shroud – _"Your hopes have become my burden. I will find my own liberation."_ :

Void Damage

Mecha-shift – this weapon is both a melee weapon and a gun

Field Choke – more range and impact. Increased recoil

Zen Moment – causing damage with this weapon increases its stability

From Shadows (can only be used in conjuction with Blake's semblance) – grants invisibility for a short period of time while leaving a shadow clone in the wielder's place.

Warrior of Light - increased damage for the wielder's attack

Injection Mold – increased stability, faster handling. Reduced range

Black the Beast – kills while invisible will increase the invisibility duration and grants 25% bonus melee damage for the next attack. Can only be used twice in a row.

Ember Celica – _"Let's start this show with a_ Yang _!"_ :

Solar Damage

Mecha-shift – this weapon is both a melee weapon and a gun

Ammo Mods – can swap between regular shotgun rounds and explosive rounds. Explosive rounds have drastically increased range and power but the magazine size becomes smaller.

Linear Composition – more predictable recoil. Slight boost to range and impact. More recoil

Close and/or Personal – short period of 25% bonus melee damage after landing a hit with this weapon

I Burn (can only be used in conjuction with Yang's semblance) – after taking a certain amount of damage, kills with this weapon causes the target to explode for a short time but close proximity with the explosion will deal some damage to the wielder.

Tempered Light - increased armour when wielding this weapon

Life Support – kills with this weapon while critically injured have a chance to start regenerating health

Out With a Yang! – reloading this weapon has a chance to unleash a Solar shockwave while boosting melee and gun damage for a short time.

And that's the end of that.

00000

Chapter 31

Summer Rose carefully moved the scattered tools and spare weapon parts on the floor out of the way so she wouldn't make any unneccesary noise and Ruby wouldn't trip over them when the young girl woke up. As much as Summer wanted to finish up with Crescent Rose, she knew Ruby would have wanted to finish it herself since it was her brainchild after all.

It didn't mean that the Guardian wouldn't give her some helpful advice by leaving a detailed instruction on how to finish the repairs and upgrades by herself if her mother wasn't there to supervise her by the time she woke up.

In the meantime, Summer was going to ask the rest of Team RWBY (boy, was that name confusing) what special upgrades that they wanted for their weapons and maybe make sure they don't accidently damage any of her collection.

The moment the Hunter stepped out of the room, her instincts flared, instantly putting her on high alert. She didn't survive this long by ignoring her battle-hardened senses and they were screaming at her that someone with killing intent was about to attack her so she whirled around and caught one of the hands reaching for her before she spun on her heel, slamming the offender to the wall with their arm locked behind them.

It took Summer a moment to notice the black bow on her would-be assailant's head and the piercing amber eyes furiously glaring at her, which allowed her to recognize the person as Blake Belladonna, one of her daughter's teammates.

"Blake!" she exclaimed in surprise before releasing the faunus girl while brushing dust off the girl's shoulders, "Don't startle me like that. I get jumpy, you know."

Blake slapped the Guardian's hands aside with a hiss and she looked about ready to claw the Light-bearer's face.

Was it offensive to think about that because the girl was part cat or was it justified because the girl _was_ part cat?

Seeing cat faunus' pupils narror into slits for a split second, Summer decided it was a bit of both. But what was the reason for the B of team RWBY to look at her like she just killed her boyfriend or something?

"Why…why do you have Adam's sword!?" the former White Fang member demanded as she practically shoved the sheathed form of Wilt and Blush into the Guardian's face, "He would never part with it willingly so what did you do to him!"

Oooh, that's why. The Guardian had a feeling that she was forgetting something.

"Let's go somewhere more private," Summer suggested in a tone that heavily indicated that it wasn't a suggestion in the least as she snatched the chokuto from the faunus' grip. Blake looked like she wanted to protest but the Guardian firmly clasped a hand on the black haired girl's shoulder before they both vanished in a swirl of white rose petals.

00000

The two rematerialized in the locker room next door. The White Rose removed her hand from the faunus girl's shoulder and leaned on the wall while Blake was attempting to regain her balance and collapsed into a nearby bench.

The Huntress-in-training wasn't as used to teleporting as the Guardian so she found herself to be quite disoriented from the experience.

"You're right that Taurus wouldn't part with his weapon on his own free will," Summer solemnly said as she held up the former weapon of the deceased White Fang leader.

"He would rather have it pried from his cold dead fingers than let anyone much less a human like you hold it," Blake told her as she recovered from her teleportation-induced nausea.

"Exactly," Summer agreed as the weapon dispersed into blue particles and back into her personal armoury. The former White Fang member's eyes shot wide open at what the woman was implying and her teeth audibly grit against each other.

The silver eyed woman's head whipped to the side to avoid the incoming fist, allowing the attack to painfully crack against the wall. Blake pulled her hand back and cradled it with a wince. Clenching her teeth, her leg snapped up in a kick but the Guardian's foot was there to stop the leg before it could reach.

Not to be deterred, the cat faunus spun on her heel and sent a high kick aimed at the Hunter's temple but it was caught by the woman's palm. Blake was about to follow up her failed strike but the Guardian roughly pulled the limb towards her to throw her off balance. Her other foot slipped and she was then sent flying as Summer shoved her airborne body before she could recover.

The former White Fang member was able to flip her body upright but her back still slammed against the row of lockers behind her. Growling, Blake kicked off the locker and launched a relentless barrage of punches and kicks that were effortlessly blocked or avoided by her opponent.

No, opponent wasn't the right word to describe Summer at the moment. Opponent would imply that there was a fight to begin with and the clear gap between their skills reinforced that idea tenfold.

Blake may have extensive combat experience prior to enrolling to Beacon but it was no match for a Guardian like Summer who had over two lifetimes worth of being a veteran warrior while Blake was still remained a Huntress-in-training.

Time and time again, Blake would throw a strike at the Guardian only for it to be thwarted easily each time and not once was she able to force Summer to move her laidback position on the wall.

As she began to get tired, the cat faunus eventually saw the futility of her attacks and she would only get sloppier as time went on. Blake knew that even with a repaired Gambol Shroud and being fully rested, she wasn't even close to being able to beat the Guardian. Not at her current level at least.

Worst of all, Summer knew it as well.

"Why?" Blake voiced in between pants as the Guardian impassively stared at her exhausted state.

She didn't elaborate her question nor did she need to since the Hunter immediately understood what she meant.

Sighing wearily, Summer regarded the faunus with a sad smile, "I think you already know the answer to that."

Blake already did know the answer why the Rose matriarch felt the need to kill her former mentor. It was also the reason why Blake left the White Fang in the first place. She could still remember the short conversation that finally convinced her to leave her old life and search for a better path.

00000

" _What about the crewmembers?"_

" _What about them?"_

00000

Blake tried to hold her tears back but they still pour down her cheeks regardless. Even though she knew that Adam might have to pay for his sins one day, she just never imagined that it would be this soon and at the hands of her leader's mother at that.

"You know," Summer pushed herself off the wall and settled down on one of the benches, "I had a friend that I was really close with."

"Had?" the cat faunus noted how the Guardian referred to this close friend in past tense as Summer patted the space beside her, inviting the Huntress-in-training to take a seat.

"Her name was Diana Collete, a Hunter like me," Summer began with a wistful look in her eyes, "She was a bit rough around the edges but a pretty nice person once you got to know her."

This reminded the former White Fang member of how her teammate, Weiss was like before they got to know each other well. The memory made her fondly chuckle a little.

In spite of the hardships and disagreements, the Schnee heiress had become one of Blake's most irreplaceable friends and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"We spent a lot of time talking about how we're gonna repel the aliens from Earth, bring back the Golden Age, and other stuff like that. We made it like a goal, a dream that we were going to fulfill in the future. We could have taken the whole galaxy together but then she started to change little by little that I didn't notice it until it was too late."

This story was starting to sound very familiar to Blake and she couldn't help but be reminded on how Adam was like back then before he became so filled with anger and hatred towards the world. If it was anything like that, she had a feeling how this story would end.

"One day, we came across several Eliksni convoys of the House of Devils making its way out of the Cosmodrome. It was very unusual for a force like that to leave the safety of their territory and was a cause for concern. We debated if we should inform the Tower of this development or take initiative and attack the convoys ourselves."

"We eventually decided on the latter and we launched a surprise attack on the convoys, taking out their heaviest hitters first before the rest followed. I should have noticed the signs by now. She took too much pleasure in killing the Eliksni Guards. A Guardian shouldn't take joy while permanently killing another sentient being even though they were aliens but Diana did and if I wasn't imagining it at the time, I even heard her laughing as she killed them."

"I should have confronted her for that. I really should have but we were too focused on what were in the convoys that the Eliksni desperately fought to protect from us so we opened it up and saw what was inside before we would blow it. We thought it would be weapons or something inside of the convoy but we have never been so wrong."

Summer paused her story for a moment to take a deep breath as if to settle her nerves before her silver eyes hardened resolutely.

"The convoy contained children. Eliksni children."

Blake couldn't help but gasped at the revelation. No wonder the Eliksni fought so hard to protect the convoy from their enemy. They were defending their younglings from those that might bring harm upon them.

"We've never seen Eliksni children before but I could tell that they were terrified out of their minds. I can still remember how one of them was aiming a rifle too big for it at us like it was trying to convince itself that we would dare hurt them while it was carrying a weapon."

"Well, the kid was partially correct. The Eliksni may be our enemies but I wouldn't stoop so low to slaughter their younglings so I decided to stand down and put my weapons away but…"

The Guardian rubbed her eyes, looking far older and tired than her youthful appearances would suggest.

"But Diana didn't."

Another gasp escaped the cat faunus' lips but this one was more of horror than surprise. Blake may have done many morally questionable things during her time in the White Fang but she would never have done something like that and if she was taken on a mission that led to that, she would have left the once peaceful organization earlier.

"If I didn't quickly knock her gun aside, then Diana would have executed that kid then and there. She started shouting at me for that. She demanded to know why I would spare the enemy like that so I told her that I wasn't going to start killing kids that were of no threat to us at the moment."

"…Then she told me that the children were going to grow up to be our enemies anyway and that it was best to kill them now before it could happen…She said that the only way to get rid of the weed was to pull it out from the roots."

"Saying I disagreed with her belief was an understatement. Our argument turned into a full blown battle to the death, which ended with me driving my knife into her throat," Summer recounted with tone full of regret and sadness.

"You were forced to kill your own friend," Blake muttered in disbelief and sympathy. She could relate to the Guardian in some way. She always feared that was how it would end if she was forced to face Adam as an enemy someday.

The member of Team RWBY figured that maybe Summer killing Adam was a blessing in disguise. Despite their differing ideals, a part of Blake still cared for her former mentor, which was why his death affected her so much.

"Diana was a Guardian like me so her death wasn't permanent. I had to kick her Ghost some distance away to slow down her revival while I let convoy take the Eliksni children away from there. By the time she was back to life, they were long gone and our friendship was over."

"What happened then?"

"We had to report this incident to the Vanguard, our bosses and Diana was banished from the Tower for her actions and I was commended for mine. I'm pretty sure she hated me for getting her expelled as she left the Tower as a disgraced Guardian. I wanted to apologize but I never saw or heard of her again after that."

"A Guardian's duty is not just to protect humanity from the Darkness but to also defend them from themselves. It was a duty that went forgotten for a while in the face of the overwhelming alien threat. And Adam Taurus was going to let thousands of innocents die to the Vex before the White Fang would intervene and wipe out both sides so I killed him."

"Do you regret it? Going against your friend and killing Adam?" Blake asked, understanding the Guardian's reasoning yet wanting to know if she regreted it at all.

"I don't regret fighting my friend or killing Adam Taurus," Summer answered solemnly before she stood up and made her way to the exit, "But I regret that it was necessary in the first place."

The Guardian left the cat faunus much think about and she was content to give the girl space for that. She opened the door to the locker room to reveal the still forms of Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee who were obviously listening in on the Hunter's story. The two Huntress-in-training stared at Summer like deer caught in the headlight.

"I hope you girls learned something from that as well," Summer said, fully aware of their presence behind the door along with one other person.

"Hopefully, they did," the voice of Taiyang Xiao Long said as the man himself stepped past his daughter and her friend to stand face to face with the Guardian, "Do you girls mind leaving us alone so Summer and I could have a talk between old teammates."

Closing her silver eyes, the White Rose took a deep breath through her nose before releasing it through her mouth in an old breathing technique to calm one's nerves as the three members of Team RWBY hurried off to leave the two veteran warriors to themselves. It was about time Summer had a talk with the father of her children.

And boy, did that last sentence drive the point how awkward Summer's situation was.

00000

"So Qrow and Yang already told me the story," Taiyang began as he nervously scratched the back of his head, "They told me how you don't remember your old life here on Remnant."

"Only bits and pieces," Summer corrected, "And most of them have something to do with our daughters."

"Then what about Team STRQ? What about me?"

I'm sorry," the former leader of Team STRQ shook her head, "You guys are basically strangers to me."

"Then-" the blonde man's voice cracked for a bit before he continued with a determined tone, "Then let's start over."

"My name is Taiyang Xiao Long," the father of Ruby and Yang introduced himself with a small grin as he held out his hand to her, "Nice to meet you."

Summer stared at the offered hand for a few seconds before she came to a decision. A grin to match the Xiao Long patriarch formed on the elder Rose's face as her hand grasped his in a firm handshake, "Summer Rose. I hope to get to know you better in the future."

"Likewise."

00000

Cayde-6's head snapped up as his light blue optics scanned the area for the source of his unease. All he saw were the human and robotic workers patching up the gigantic hole that was made from the Dantalion Exodus VI breaching the Dreadnaught's hull.

Detecting nothing of note in the immediate vicinity, the Hunter Vanguard turned his head to admire the work being done on the former Hive ship.

It took twenty jumpships with cables attached to the Cabal ship to carefully remove it from the Dreadnaught without causing additional damage but the results were worth it. Now, it was only a matter of fixing the hull breach and figuring out how to fly the Dreadnaught, which they were making some progress with.

Naturally, Ikora Rey and Commander Zavala were furious that the horned Exo went behind their backs once again and they would have elected to have Cayde removed from his position as a Vanguard for that if it weren't for three reasons.

One, Cayde would rejoice over the prospect of losing his job as the Hunter Vanguard. He made it no secret that he felt bitter being cooped up in the Tower all day and would gladly trade it for the chance to go back out into the field. Cayde had caused so much headaches for the other two Vanguard for so long that if they were to finally give in and have the Exo removed from his position, then Cayde would win. And they definitely knew that as well so they weren't going to give him the satisfaction.

Not until they find a more responsible replacement for him at the very least.

Two, the Guardians had enough firepower to break through the Vex barricade at last and they weren't going to let it go to waste. The Dreadnaught could not only devastate entire armies and moons but it was also nigh indestructable. A weapon like that would benefit the Guardians greatly.

Three, the Cabal had too received word of the Vex barricade and had requested for reinforcements to assault the Vex that were due to arrive in a few days time. No jumpships would be able to break past the barricade during the conflict between the Vex and Cabal, not without getting shot down in the crossfire so they needed the Dreadnaught to break through _both_ the Vex and Cabal.

Even without Guardian Summer Rose being here, things always got more complicated when she was involved.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Cayde said aloud as a bright shimmer took place in the air behind him to reveal a female Exo garbed in Hunter gear like him but this Exo was no Guardian, "Summer told me about you. Didn't think you were real."

"I am real when it is needed," the stranger replied as the Hunter Vanguard turned to face her.

"Well, is it needed now?" the Exo Hunter brazenly smartmouthed the most mysterious person in the Sol System.

"At the moment, yes," the stranger retorted as she tossed a data packet towards him.

The small device briefly covered Cayde's line of sight before he caught it in his hand and during that narrow window, the stranger had disappeared from his senses completely. The Hunter Vanguard knew better than to order a sweep of the entire area since he highly doubted that the search teams would find any traces of the stranger left.

Instead, Cayde chose to download the information contained within the drive into his databanks. In seconds, he had fully processed and studied the data due to his super computer-like mind.

"Remnant, huh?" Cayde muttered as he went through the data once more, "This search and rescue mission had just gotten a whole lot more complicated."

But it looked like the Hunter Vanguard found a fourth reason for the Vanguard to let him keep his job as he delivered everything he had just learned to the Tower.

This Remnant may sound more primitive than them but the City would do whatever it took to protect the people of Remnant and guide them to a better future.

All the Guardians had to do was get past the Vex barricade.

00000

AN:

I know the first episode of RWBY Volume 4 is out but I still can't watch it yet since I'm not a member so you guys better not spoil anything for me until the episode is out to the general public.


	32. Interlude: Festival of the Lost

AN:

Sorry, another filler.

00000

Chapter 32

"Ruby…"

"Yes, Weiss?"

"Your mother is insane."

"Insanely awesome!"

"Of course, _you_ would think so, Yang."

"Professor Goodwitch is gonna kill your mom for this. Again."

"Oooohhh yeah."

The lighting in Beacon Academy was dim and the entire school was casted in a purple glow that was both spooky and comforting despite the fact that it was still in the middle of the day. Differently coloured dodecahedrons hung from the dozens of wires strung around the buildings' walls. The top of the lamposts were replaced with big burning violet candles that further added to the eerie atmosphere. Even the Beacon Academy statue received some alterations and the two figures now sported horns and bat wings. There were audible screams of horror and forebording music in the background that they couldn't pinpoint the source of.

Beacon Academy once resembled a mystical castle that was commonly found in fairytales where the hero and the princess would live happily ever after but calling it the evil lair of the main villain would be the more apt term to describe the school now.

Team RWBY stood in the courtyard as they took in the makeover of their school with mixed expressions of horror and awe. The one responsible for this, the aforementioned Summer Rose, materialized in a swarm of bats.

The Guardian's clothes had been changed to match Beacon Academy's new change. Her signature white cloak had been replaced by a high-collared black cape, which draped over her shoulders and concealed the rest of her body. Her reddish black hair had been slicked back, giving her a more sleek and refined appearance. The Hunter spread her arms wide, opening her cape and revealing the rather old fashioned tuxedo that somehow emphasized her slim frame well in spite of it originally being male clothing. Summer's mouth widened in a toothy grin to show off that she now sported a pair of fangs.

Summer also managed to accomplish all of this during the time when the faculty was too busy to stop her, which was less than an hour. It was an impressive feat that anyone could be proud of.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you!" Summer exclaimed as her voice was projected through Beacon's PA system so everyone in the academy would hear what she had to say, "The Festival of the Lost!"

"Just what is the-" Weiss tried to question the extremely eccentric former Huntress but was interrupted by the loud bang of Beacon's doors being slammed opened.

Even the doors were not exempt to whatever Summer had done as bats flew out into the night sky (Team RWBY could have sworn that it was still sunny a moment ago) while the infuriated form of Glynda Goodwitch stomped out of the castle with a vengeful purpose.

Beacon Academy's new lighting happened to make the already intimidating professor look even more menacing than before. Even though every student (and some faculty members) that saw the combat instructor fled from the mere sight of her, Summer remained unperturbed as ever.

"Ms. Rose!" Glynda boomed as she neared the first year team and the Guardian.

"Sup/Eep!" mother and daughter replied in unison as the former nonchalantly waved at the school mistress while the latter was successfully cowered and hid behind her older sister.

It took the combat instructor a second to realize that there were now two people who were named 'Ms. Rose' so she corrected herself, "Summer Rose, what is the meaning of this?"

"Silly Glynda," Summer wagged a finger at the taller woman as if she was scolding a small child, "This is the Festival of the Lost!"

"And what is this Festival of the Lost and why did you think it was appropriate to deface the sanctity of this school?" Glynda demanded, the left side of her face twitching dangerously.

"What my Guardian is trying to say is that the Festival of the Lost is a holiday that came to be adopted by the Last City of Earth more than hundred of years before she was revived," the Ghost explained. He too had changed how he looked to match the now ominous theme of the school except his wasn't so extravagant as his Guardian since he just put a small piece of sheet over himself with his single blue optic peeking out through a hole so looked like one of those stereotypical ghosts.

It took Yang a few moments to get the joke before she descended into uproarious laughter, disregarding how Goodwitch's glare now turned to the blonde brawler.

"I get it! You're a Ghost and you're dressed up as a- hahahaha!" Yang managed to say but she cut herself off by laughing once more.

"This was not my idea. It was your mother's," Drei sighed wearily, already expecting that something like this was going to happen, "I wanted to wear the horns but _nooooo_! She said this costume suited me better!"

"Well, it _does_!" Summer rolled her eyes at her partner's whining, "Besides, Zwei already called dibs on the devil costume."

" _Bark! Bark!"_

As if on cue, the corgi himself, who was dressed in a miniature devil costume scampered proudly and barked twice in agreement. With the exception of Blade Belladonna, the members of Team RWBY were very tempted to gush over Zwei due to how adorable the dog looked in his costume.

Before the Guardian and the Ghost could continue their banter, they heard a loud cough that drew both of their attentions to see that the entirety of Glynda Goodwitch's face had begun to twitch sporadically as if her rage was about to escape the inner confines of her mind.

"Don't worry, Glynda. I didn't forget about you," the Guardian dressed as a vampire said as she held out her hand. In a flash of blue light, a tall broomstick with a seat attached to it appeared in her hand, "No witch is complete without their flying broomstick."

Instead of taking the offered broomstick, Professor Goodwitch turned her attention to the Ghost floating exasperately by his Guardian's shoulder with a questioning gaze. The combat instructor didn't know the AI for long but she felt a kindred spirit within him so she knew that he would provide her a proper explanation.

"As I was saying, the Festival of the Lost is a holiday where the people of Earth remember and mourn the departed and those who were taken away too soon," Drei continued, sighing at Summer's antics, "Not only do we solemnly remember their passing, we celebrate the fond memories that we made with them. We honor the dead while providing comfort to the living."

"By disrupting the peace and vandalizing school property?" Glynda said with an arched eyebrow as the grip on her riding crop tightened.

"By wearing masks and giving out candy!" Summer exclaimed in excitement as she tossed handfuls of candy into the air like they were confetti, "But since Remnant has bad experiences with masks, I've decided to forgo that and just skip right ahead to the candy."

"Candy!" Ruby and Yang began to shake in anticipation at the mention of the sugary treats and had already scrambled to gather the wrapped candies that their mother tossed to the ground. Weiss rolled her eyes in exasperation at the two sisters' childishness while Blake shook her head fondly at the display.

However, Glynda Goodwitch still retained her stony visage.

"I already hid candies all over the campus and I have a special prize to whichever team collects the most pieces of candy," the Guardian declared as the Ghost broadcasted her announcement to every student's Scroll, "You can see the rules of the candy scavenger hunt and the details of the prize on your Scrolls."

Summer's announcement was then followed by the ringtones of practically every Scroll on the campus. Team RWBY took out their own Scrolls to see what the fuss was all about and immediately stalled.

"The prize is a hoverbike!" Yang cried out with surpised glee.

Remnant was no stranger to antigrav technology since it was used for things like airships and the Amity Colosseum but gravity Dust was very expensive so it was more practical to use it on air-based vehicles than land-based ones. However, the hoverbikes that Summer was offering as a prize did not need to run on gravity Dust and had its self-recharging energy source that could run for _decades_ before it needed to be replaced.

Under normal circumstances, the brawler would have been intrigued by the hoverbike and yet she would make no plans of getting one due to already owning a motorcycle that she referred to as Bumblebee. However, the garage and the many vehicles inside, including her beloved bike were destroyed during the Vex invasion and the yellow dragon just happened to have her eye on a particular black and yellow Sparrow.

"Four hoverbikes actually and they're called Sparrows," Summer corrected, "They were taking up too much space in my storage and I've been meaning to get rid of them for a while now but I figured I might as well give them away through a fun game like this."

The White Rose was willingly giving away technology that was easily worth a fortune _for candy_!

The Guardian didn't see it like that since Sparrows were a commodity back on Earth. Merchants were practically handing them out like nobody's business and Summer had earned more than a handful of Sparrows through participating in Sparrow races so giving away some of her Sparrow collection was not such a big deal for her.

It would be a different story entirely when it came to her collection of weapons.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow this to continue, Summer Rose," Glynda said sternly as she adjusted her glasses, "I must ask you to cease this at once!"

"Too late for that, Glyn," the Hunter devilishly smirked with her fangs protruding from her mouth as loud explosions and chants of 'Queen of the Castle' could be heard in the distance, "You can't stop what's coming."

Before the combat instructor could prove her statement wrong, Summer put one leg over the broom and planted her tush on the seat as the Ghost phased back into her inventory. To their surprise and amazement, the broomstick and the Guardian hovered in the air before flames erupted from the bristles. Cackling madly like a witch, Summer flew off into the distance and left the Deputy Headmistress, Team RWBY and Zwei in the dust.

Summer may have been dressed as a vampire but since Goodwitch wasn't going to step up to the role of a witch, the Guardian had to fill the part instead.

A piece of paper was left behind and on that paper was a note and a picture. The note said, "Eat my dust, you old hag!" while the picture was of Summer Rose blowing a raspberry at the camera.

Blinking, Glynda Goodwitch stared at Summer's fleeing form for a few moments before a snap resonated throughout the courtyard. The source of this sound came from her riding crop, which was snapped in two from the overwhelming pressure it was subjected to.

As for the blonde professor's face, it was the perfect representation of rage itself. Her teeth was gritting against each other so hard that it made sounds akin to running nails across a blackboard. Several veins throbbed visibly on her forehead and her face was flushed in fury.

Team RWBY thought it was best to hightail themselves out of there as soon as possible before the rage incarnate shifted her focus on them.

Fortunately for them, Professor Goodwitch suddenly vanished from their sight and there was a small crater where she once stood.

"NO AMOUNT OF IMMORTALITY IS GOING TO SAVE YOU FROM WHAT I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU, SUMMER ROSE!" Glynda's screams could heard by the entire campus as the glasses wearing woman chased after the cackling Summer Rose.

…

…

"Huh, it says here that broom is actually a Sparrow," Blake broke the silence as she took a look at the prizes.

"Wow, that is…" Weiss trailed off before the two sisters jumped up.

"AMAZING!"

"Operation: Collect the Most Candy to Win Four Sparrows For Team RWBY is a go!" Ruby announced as she pumped her fist in the air with her older sister joining her, "Banzai!"

And the Hounds of War were set loose on Beacon Academy.

00000

As Remnant celebrated Summer's modified version of the Festival, the holiday back on Earth was much more tamed in comparison. There were still the usual spooky decorations all over the City but the citizens, especially the Guardians just didn't seem to be in the mood for celebrating the Festival of the Lost.

"You know, this is the first time that we celebrated the Festival of the Lost without Summer," Lux Sylphid stated before downing a shot of whiskey.

"Yes, the Festival this year doesn't seem to have the same energy as last year's Festival," Prometheus-23 noted as he did a small tune-up on his wrist.

Exos that were Guardians may have a self-repair system installed along with the regenerative abilities of the Light but their bodies still required some maintenance from time to time. It would be hazardous if any of their body parts suddenly stopped functioning in the middle of battle so every Exo instinctively knew how to perform self-maintenance.

"I'm trying to decide whether Summer being absent from the Festival is a bad thing or not," the Warlock poured herself another glass of whiskey.

"If you consider what she did for last year's Festival of the Lost, I would say the latter," the Titan replied as he finished the final touches on his hand before putting the screwdriver away.

"Have you noticed that shit has gotten a lot crazier ever since Summer arrived at the Tower?" the Awoken asked as she idly gestured her index and middle finger at the booze. A purple aura surrounded the liquid inside before it started to levitate out of the glass.

"Yes, it certainly has gotten more exciting these days, hasn't it?" Prometheus chuckled wistfully as he watched the Warlock change the floating alcohol into various shapes with her magic.

Harnessing the Void to accomplish mundane tasks was a skill that many Warlocks were encouraged to do so they could achieve better control over their magic.

"I was actually the first person to bump into her," the Exo Titan recalled how the young Hunter ogled his mechanical form in a very invasive manner before Lux scared her off.

"And I remember saying 'I pity whatever fireteam that little shit ends up in'. I don't need the Traveler's gift to see the irony there," Lux snorted before she manipulated the alcohol to flow into her mouth.

"If we only knew that Summer was going to be a legend in the making."

"She destroyed the Black Heart by herself, slew Crota with his own sword, conquered the Vault of Glass with us by her side, humiliated Skolas and defeated the Taken King," the Warlock listed down, "Those are just the most noteworthy of her many accomplishments and now, she rediscovered that one of our colonies still exists."

"You could say that Summer's arrival was preordained and that destiny was at work," Prometheus commented.

"I miss her," Lux admitted with a sigh, forgoing the glass and drinking the whiskey straight from the bottle.

"We both miss our little sister," the Exo agreed.

The revelation of one of humanity's colonies still standing was an enormous shock to everyone and the fact that it was under attack by the Vex made breaking through the barricade an even bigger priority. While the Dreadnaught was being repaired, the Vanguard had sent out several scouts to locate the Earth Gateway to Remnant. The data that the Exo Stranger gave to Cayde provided only a general location of where the Gateway was in the Cosmodrome so they needed scouts to pinpoint the exact coordinates.

The remaining members of Fireteam Nero were reluctant to return to the City since they wanted to join the teams that were sent to secure and reactivate the Gateway but Ikora Rey ordered them to recuperate first since they had done a lot to acquire control over the Dreadnaught. Although, the Exo and the Awoken were told that they would be the first fireteam to be deployed once the Gateway on Earth came online.

In the meantime, the two Guardians were stuck twiddling their fingers until they receive the call.

"To Summer," the Warlock raised the bottle of whiskey.

Prometheus picked up Lux's discarded glass and raised it as his own since he didn't have one, "To Summer."

"Let's hope that little shit didn't get into _too_ much trouble without us," Lux added, earning a chuckle from her Titan companion.

"Considering who we're talking about, that hope would be in vain," he stated.

"Heh, damn straight!" the two comrades clinked their glasses together before the Awoken downed the entire bottle of whiskey.

00000

AN:

I'm sorry but I won't be writing how the candy scavenger hunt goes. I will only write the aftermath of this whole shenanigan but you guys are welcome to write your own spin-off of how things went down.

With that out of the way, Happy Festival of the Lost, everyone!


	33. White Corvus

AN:

Like what I said before, I won't be writing the exact events of the candy scavenger hunt. It would take too long and would delay the progression of the story by several more weeks so I would only write a brief synopsis and the aftermath of the scavenger hunt.

Also, there are just too many characters to involve in the whole thing. One of my pet peeves of the show is that Rooster Teeth introduced too many characters without fully developing the ones that they already have. I know there was a reason that they did that but I won't be going to give any of the introduced teams from Volume 3 much screentime in my story unless absolutely necessary.

00000

Chapter 33

"In the first years after the Collapse, a time before the rise of the Vanguard and the Last City, some of the earliest Guardians to be revived chose not to protect the world, but to subjugate it. Taking over various parts of the planet, some Guardians became Warlords and injustice reigned. Eventually, Guardians with integrity chose to stand up to their tyrannical brethren and formed the Iron Lords. More and more noble Guardians joined the cause until an army of hundreds strong was formed and the oppressive warlords were deposed along with the Eliksni who ravaged the Earth."

"The Iron Lords were a shining beacon to the people of Earth for they were ones that laid down the foundation on what it meant to be a Guardian and gathered mankind under one banner once more. If it wasn't for the honor and nobility of the first Iron Lords, the people of Earth would not be prospering as they are now," Drei finished his narration of the legendary Iron Lords with a hint of awe in his tone as he turned to his new human friend, Dr. Oobleck.

The AI and the Huntsman were in the courtyard where the Ghost lectured the professor(* _ahem*doctor_ ) about the history of Earth while Summer tutored the winning team of the candy scavenger hunt on how to properly drive their newly acquired Sparrows.

Judging from all of the shouting and the sounds of metal hitting stone, it was not as fruitful as what the good doctor was learning from Drei. Even though driving a Sparrow was so simple that anyone could do it within a day, half of the winners were nowhere near learning how to drive a Sparrow without crashing it.

As for Glynda Goodwitch, Summer was able to lead her on a wild goose chase in Vale before she snuck her way back into Beacon Academy with the combat instructor none the wiser. The Hunter had plenty of experience with escaping from overpowered angry women that could hurl energy bolts and move stuff with their mind from all of the times that she ran away from her fireteammate, Lux Sylphid.

"Fascinating! Bringing hope and justice to where there is none! These Iron Lords sound like the epitome of being a Huntsman. No, the formation of the Iron Lords predated the formation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. It would be more accurate to say that the Huntsmen and Huntresses should be more like them," the green haired man rambled on as he took notes at rapid speed, "You have said that Guardians are immortal unless they fall in battle one last time so it's safe to assume that some of them are still alive. On that note, what does it take to finally kill a Guardian? It should be possible to kill a Guardian otherwise the Iron Lords would still be doing battle with the Warlords in an endless cycle of war. Nevermind that for now. I would like to meet one of the Iron Lords if that is possible. Interviewing someone with actual _firsthand_ knowledge of history would provide interesting insights."

"My apologies, doctor but only one Iron Lord still remains and Lord Saladin Forge is not one to leave his self-appointed post on Earth for an interview so you would have to find a way to Earth and go to him yourself. Even then, you're still not likely to have an interview of his past from him since he has other more important things to do," the Ghost said, causing the archaeologist to deflate in disappointment so Drei decided to throw him a bone, "However, Lord Saladin will indulge you if you sought some training from him. I know you are already an accomplished Huntsman in your own right but there are always room for improvement and he will be more than glad to help a non-Guardian seek to better themself."

"What you said is true. I've been a Huntsman for many years now but that would pale in comparison to a warrior who had fought for over hundreds of years. Have to admit that gap between experiences is quite vast so there would still be much for me to learn from this Lord Saladin," Oobleck cupped his chin consideration before taking a long drink of coffee from his thermos, "If only there i-"

The coffee addict was abruptly interrupted by one of the Sparrows speeding too close to him before the out of control vehicle crashed into a wall and exploded. Luckily, the rider was thrown off of the hoverbike before it crashed and was thus, unharmed by the explosion.

"Darn it, Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed in exasperation as her Sparrow, EV-40 Snowstorm, slowed to a halt, "We worked so hard to win these Sparrows and you just went ahead and wrecked yours!"

Not surprisingly, it was Team RWBY that had won the Sparrows in the Festival of the Lost fiasco. The all girls team was lucky that almost all of the upper year students were sent away on a mission so the scavenger hunt became a battle between Team RWBY and Team JNPR since they were undoubtedly the best teams of their year.

The intensity of the battle between the two first-year teams had spread across almost the entire campus and had seemingly caused more damage than what the Vex did to the school but at least the buildings were still standing.

Then there was Team CRDL that took the dick route and went around stealing weaker teams' candy instead of searching for them on their own since Summer had established no rules against stealing other people's candy. Of course, when the more competent and experienced teams found out about this, they decided to do the same and the team of bullies were one of the first ones to suffer for it as everyone else fought over each other's candy.

It was a close fight and Team JNPR would have won but one of their members, Nora Valkyrie, had forgotten one crucial rule. The team wasn't supposed to eat the candy _before_ the end of the scavenger hunt, which was midnight and any eaten candy before that appointed time would be deducted from their overall points so even though Team JNPR was able to collect the most candy out of everyone, they ended up in last place because of the excitable hammer-wielder eating all of their candy.

In the end, it was Team RWBY that won the Sparrows and Summer was now teaching them how to drive them. So far, only Yang and Weiss got the hang of it as the blonde brawler raced around the campus on her newly acquired EV-38 Laurelbearer like a complete natural while the white haired girl settled for a more reasonable pace.

The Guardian knew that her older daughter could compete in the Sparrows Racing League as a professional and maybe even win a couple of tournaments if she wanted to.

The Freezerburn pair learned fast but the Ladybug duo's progress was…less than exemplary as shown with the young leader crashing her Sparrow and the cat faunus was only moving at a snail's pace since she accidently drove the S-34 Ravensteel and herself into the fountain the last time she went too fast. Now sopping wet and very grumpy, Blake wasn't very eager to repeat that incident.

Especially when Yang and Summer started making comments about cats and water.

Ruby may be used to moving at extremely fast speeds due to her semblance but her skill at handling vehicles left much to be desired from.

"It's fine, mini-whitey," Summer said as said 'mini-whitey' spluttered in indignation and she dismounted her own Sparrow, the XV0 Timebreaker. The Guardian waved her hand at the Sparrow's wreckage and it broke down into blue particles. She aimed her palm in front of her as the EV-36 Solscout rematerialized in pristine condition, "There, good as new."

"Whoa!/Marvelous!" Ruby and Dr. Oobleck exclaimed as they closely examined the red Sparrow at rapid speeds.

The young scythe-wielder continued her inspection of the hoverbike while the glasses-wearing Huntmans turned his attention to the Guardian and started spouting out questions so fast that Summer promptly gave up trying to understand him and then gestured for Drei to answer the man's inquiries.

It would have been easier to send the history teacher a copy of the Grimoire (with certain confidential excluded from it) but her Ghost just loved hearing himself talk. Letting Drei drone on and on to the green haired man killed two birds with one stone.

"I think that's enough Sparrow lessons for today," Summer scratched the back of her head.

00000

"Hmm," the Guardian inspected Myrtenaster with a critical eye. The weapon was primarily for thrusting but it could also be used for slashing. The blade was thin yet highly durable but it won't be piercing through armour. Myrtenaster's most prominent feature was the revolver-like mechanism that was held within the hilt. Summer gripped the blade and applied some force, slightly bending the blade with a small creak.

"Be careful with that!" the wielder of Myrtenaster cried out in alarm at what the White Rose was doing.

"Relax, mini-whitey," Summer rolled her eyes as she tossed the rapier into the air. The weapon spun through the air as its tip left a trail of silver before the Hunter caught it blade first and held out the hilt towards the SDC heiress, "She's quite sturdy before I reinforced the blade so I doubt whatever force I put on her now would break her."

In spite of the extra functions that she installed, the certified Guardian upgraded weapons of Team RWBY didn't really look different from their initial form since Summer preferred being functional over being stylish. If a weapon or a piece of amour looked impressive without any unnecessary ornaments, then it was doing what it was made to do.

"Here, try it out," the Guardian suggested as Weiss took the improved Myrtenaster.

"Hm, this still weighs the same and there's absolutely no change in the balance," the white haired girl noted as she performed some practice swings. Her weapon still felt somewhat the same within her grip but for some reason, she could feel that her strikes were somehow stronger and faster, "And yet it feels…better than before."

"Yang, what are you doing?" the Schnee heiress demanded as she noticed her blonde teammate peering out the window with a pair of binoculars.

"I think I could see the boys' showers from here," Yang replied as she looked away to wiggle her eyebrows suggestively at Weiss, "And they sure worked up one heck of a sweat."

"What! No, you can't," Weiss denied as she snatched the binoculars from the yellow dragon's grip and then looked through them, ready to prove her wrong. The Ice Queen suddenly stilled before her head began to tilt a bit to the side.

"~Told you~" Yang sang as blood started to drip from the white haired girl's nose.

"Yang, you're terrible," Weiss managed to say while still intently gazing through the binoculars.

"You're the one still looking! With a freaking nose blood!" the blonde brawler retorted before she snatched the binoculars back, earning an indignant _hey_ from the younger Schnee.

As she was about to look through them again, Summer sidled up next to Yang like a curious puppy wanting find out what their owner was doing.

"Why would you want to look into the boy's shower room?" the Guardian asked as she tried to see what the two girls were looking at but failed since her eyes couldn't see that far away.

"Aaah! Mom, I was just – you know – because!" Yang stammered, not wanting to explain to the person who was like a mother to her.

"I'll say it again. Why would you want to look into the boy's shower room especially while they're still in there?"

"I don't want to explain this to someone who already went through pregnancy!" Yang cried out, flustered.

"What's pregnancy?" Summer asked as she tilted her head in honest confusion.

Summer realized what she said was the wrong thing to say as Weiss stared at her in disbelief while Yang did the same except with equal parts terror and shock.

"Wha – h-how can you not know what pregnancy is, mom!?" Yang screamed in dread as she grabbed the Guardian by the shoulders and started shaking her, "Ruby freaking came _out of you_!"

"Ruby came out of what now!?" the Hunter paled in horror at the thought of a person coming out of another person. This did not mitigate Yang's fears at all. In fact, it only served to reinforce them, "I sure as hell don't remember that nor does it sound like I want to!"

"Did you think that babies are delivered to parents by storks or something!?" the blonde girl demanded from her step-mother.

"Of course not!" Summer snapped as she took Yang's hands off of her while the brawler felt relief flow into her chest before she heard what the Guardian said next, "Storks are extinct!"

…

…

"Nope!" Yang declared as she brushed past the White Rose while repeating the word 'nope' over and over again.

"Yang, where are you going?" Summer called out after her older daughter as the girl left the room.

"Goddamnit! I am _not_ giving my _own mother_ the sex talk!" they could Yang scream as she stomped down the hallways.

Bemused, the Guardian turned to the Schnee heiress and opened her mouth to ask her what that was all about.

"Oh no! Do not include me into your family drama," Weiss said before she could voice her question, "I already have enough that with my own family as it is!"

00000

Summer sighed dejectedly as laid flat on her back on the roof of the school dormitory. Team RWBY was sent on a mission to help repair the security network control centers in the Emerald Forest the day after she gave them their upgraded weapons and outfitted them with standard armour sets.

Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna were given the Hunter sets, the Mangala Skin 1.3 set with the God of War Shader and the Sinaa Jaguar 2.1 set with the Hanged Man Shader respectively. Weiss Schnee wore the Warlock armour set, the Enigma Burn with the Chatterwhite Shader while Yang Xiao Long reluctantly wore the Titan armour set, the Gwalior Type 1 set with the Lost City Shader.

Not only did their new armour came with a personal shield module but the micromaterials of their armour could be interacted by the special functions in their weapons to shift the course of the battlefield.

For example, Ruby's Crescent Rose would connect to her armour's interface network to allow her to move faster, take more hits, and become invisible for a short period of time. Blake's Gambol Shroud also gave her similar bonuses. The Ladybug pair fought like Hunters so the Guardian thought it was best to give them the same abilities to match.

Yang's Ember Celica could boost her physical strength for a while and could jumpstart her armour's life support systems if she was in a pinch. The blonde brawler fought much like a Titan from how she would always jump head first into the fray and dish out as much damage as she could take so Summer gave her enhancements to her already insane strength and durability.

Weiss Schnee got the simplest upgrades out of the rest of her team since Summer didn't know how she could install functions that could perfectly compliment the Schnee heiress' glyph semblance. Even though her upgrades weren't as fancy as her teammates, a slight performance boost could still go a long way in a battle of life and death.

From their brief demonstration of their new upgrades and armour, Summer thought she did a good job. The upgrades still didn't put them on the same level as a Huntress or even a Guardian but they were still a force to be reckoned with.

Summer had very little to worry about since Team RWBY could handle anything that fate threw at them. But just in case the situation they were in was too dire, she gave Ruby a distress beacon that would broadcast their location on a Guardian-only radio frequency.

If only the Guardian could fight off her crippling loneliness.

Summer let out another forlorn sigh as she tried to think of ways to stave off her boredom. Even though she spent a lot of time with her daughters (starting to get used to calling them that) and their friends in the past few days, she wished that it could have been gone on a bit longer but she should be thankful to Ozpin for not sending the all girls team out into the field much earlier.

With the inceasing Vex attacks across the four kingdoms, the military and the Huntsmen were stretched so thin that they were desperate enough to call the Huntsmen-in-training in. She heard that the kingdom of Atlas was even conscripting ordinary citizens to bolster their forces.

The Guardian was lucky that Team RWBY wasn't sent out far earlier so she had about four days to get to know her daughters and give their weapons cool upgrades. It wasn't enough to make up for the years that Summer spent away from Yang and Ruby but it was certainly a start.

" _I only hope that we have enough time,"_ Summer thought as she was about to close her eyes for a short nap.

" _ **!"**_

There was a shift in the air. It was so small that it could be perceived as imperceptible to most people but Summer was not most people. To her highly honed senses, it might as well be shouting out to the world. Despite not being fully attentive, Cayde had extensively drilled into her an awareness that operated on a subconscious level so she could never be taken by surprise.

Summer's battle awareness still had some flaws but it had yet to fail her when she truly needed it.

She also knew that whoever was watching her wasn't the various mini-drones that the Vale Council had sent to spy on her since they posed no danger to her due to Drei feeding them with a continuous loop of her doing mundane activities. She could sense some minor killing intent from her stalker.

Pretending to be unaware, the Guardian pushed herself off the ground and began to brush the dust off her backside. She stretched her body to work the kinks out and then she walked to the exit.

Pulling her hood up, Summer gripped the latch to the door as she covertly materialized Order's Mask over her head. The Guardian took a quick glance at her radar to discern her stalker's location before she spun on her heel and shot Thorn at one of the red trees behind her.

The barbed darts cut through the air towards their target before a red blade swiped them out of the way, revealing that it was a woman with a crimson Japanese nodachi spying on her.

The woman wore a shallow cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. An object that appeared to be made of feathers hung from the right side of her skirt and she wore black, thigh-high boots with a red splatter pattern. She had black hair that flowed in a loose and messy manner.

But what was the most distinctive feature of her assailant was the fearsome, full-face mask that resembled the face of a Grimm. It also had four eye slits, further enhancing the woman's inhuman features.

The White Fang. The Guardian thought that she left no traces of her presence when she infiltrated those White Fang bases. Oh well, it just meant that Summer would have to capture this White Fang member alive.

Summer wasn't bothered that her initial assault with Thorn was so easily deflected. In fact, she wanted Thorn's bullets to be deflected if not a direct hit. It was then evidenced by how the woman began to stagger as the Mark of the Devourer took effect.

The masked woman inelegantly stumbled off her perch on the tree and fell to the roof. However, she was still able to recover fast enough to land on her feet in a somewhat stable fighting stance.

It was just in the nick of time too as Summer struck out with her heel aiming for the woman's temple. The woman quickly ducked under the kick as Summer placed her hands on the ground, making them act as feet. The Guardian's legs flowed around her enemy's guard as if they were arms as they kicked and blocked.

Summer was too close in the woman's defenses for her nodachi to be wielded effectively so she was forced to use her blade as an impromptu shield against the Hunter's barrage of kicks.

The nodachi suddenly retracted itself and was now the same length of a standard katana, allowing the masked woman more room to manuever the blade. She swung her now shortened nodachi up to catch the Guardian in the torso for a debilitating strike but Summer's leg hooked around her sword arm and used it as leverage to deliver a devastating kick to her chest with her other leg while arresting the woman's sword arm.

But the masked woman was fast as she brought up her free arm to block the kick with her forearm, letting the gauntlet absorb the blow. Since Summer lacked a stable 'footing', her kick barely strained the woman's arm.

The Guardian pushed herself off the ground to narrowly avoid the retaliatory swipe of the woman's blade and she landed back on her feet some distance away from her opponent. The masked woman flicked her sword as she tilted her head a bit in what seemed like a smug manner.

It was hard to discern but Summer was able to follow the woman's gaze. She lifted the hem of her cloak to see that it had received a long cut, showing how close the woman came to actually hitting her. The Guardian was a bit miffed that her cloak was damaged but it was a good thing that it was already starting to knit itself back together.

In response, Summer raised her other hand to show her assailant what she had managed to grab during their brief exchange of attacks while letting go of her already repaired cloak. The woman stiffened in shock as the Guardian held the feathery object that hung ftom the right side of the woman's skirt.

The red orbs behind the woman's mask seemed to burn with indignation at this slight as she swiped at the air next to her. What Summer thought to be a move made out of frustration turned out to be of function as a swirling void of black and red energies formed next to the woman.

" _She created a portal!"_ Summer realized with a start as the woman jumped into the portal before it shrunk into nothingness. The Guardian didn't think for a second that the woman used that portal to escape.

And she thought right.

Danger senses flaring, Summer quickly rolled to the side as the crimson nodachi slammed into the ground. The Hunter drew Thorn and aimed the hand cannon at her adversary but she had already vanished only to reappear again with her sword aiming to amputate Summer's arm. The Guardian was able to prevent her arm from being sliced off but the blade still nicked her forearm and had knocked Thorn from her grip.

The weapon of sorrow bounced some distance away from its wielder but Summer made no move to retrieve the black hand cannon since she knew her opponent would be expecting that.

Drawing Bolt-caster, the Guardian parried another surprise attack but every time she tried to retaliate, the masked woman would teleport away and strike again from another angle all in blinding speed. Summer would have preferred to teleport but that didn't seem like the best course of action at the moment.

In less than thirty seconds, Summer had blocked and dodged over a hundred sword strikes and it wasn't letting up anytime soon from what she could tell. It was only due to Summer's superb reaction time that she was able to defend herself from the woman's lightning fast portal assault.

It was also because Summer had used the same tactic in the past so she was quite familiar on how to handle it.

Because of her mastery over Blink, she could use the technique in rapid succession and then overwhelm her opponents with a combination of speed and teleportation. It was a tactic that she had favored heavily until Cayde-6 taught her its weaknesses.

Blink was not perfect. There would still be a brief moment in between each use that any well-versed veteran could exploit and even though the user tried to be unpredictable in their teleportation attacks, there was still a pattern that they unconsciously follow so it was only a matter of figuring it out before finding an opening.

Cayde made a demonstation of this by discerning the pattern of her Blinks and then ruthlessly exploiting the first opening that he could find in ten seconds flat. The beating that the Hunter Vanguard gave to his young protégé was a very humbling experience for her.

As Summer defended herself from the masked woman's assault, she was trying to find pattern in her opponent's attacks. It took her longer to spot a decent opening since she didn't possess the advanced processing brain of an Exo but she was still able to find the opening that she was looking for.

 _There!_

Switching her grip on Bolt-caster into a reverse style one, Summer twisted her body past the scarlet blade and into the mask woman's guard. That manuever was not too fast or not too slow. It was simply just the right move in the right time.

Her opponent didn't have the time to be shocked at being suddenly outmanuevered before the Guardian's blade drove into the woman's abdomen and bursted out through her back.

Like how Blink wasn't the perfect movement technique, Aura was not the perfect shield. If the wielder wasn't expecting it, a strong enough attack could break through the Aura and deal direct damage to the person such was the case with Summer and the masked woman.

The woman gasped in both shock and pain and fell to her knees as Bolt-caster smoothly slid out of her with a wet slick. Spinning on her heel, Summer slapped the nodachi out of the woman's hand before the sharp edge of the Arc-imbued sword was placed on the woman's throat.

The Guardian made sure to purposely miss any of the non-essential organs and bones so only blood loss and infection were threatening her enemy's life.

The woman grasped the hole in her abdomen, applying pressure to stem the bleeding while Summer tore the mask from her face and tossed it to the side, revealing the face of her assailant to the world.

The Guardian nearly pulled her sword back in surprise as the very familiar face and red eyes stared back at her with disdain and a hint of amusement.

"I'm impressed, Summer," the woman chuckled mirthlessly, "I didn't think you had it in you."

"It can't be…" Summer muttered in disbelief as her grip on Bolt-caster tightened.

"What? Surprised to see me? I could say the same about you. After all, you're supposed to be de-"

"Yang! Since when did you dye your hair black!?"

Raven Branwen blinked once. Then twice more before the words finally sunk in. By that time, the female Branwen's palm would have met her face if her hands weren't busy with holding the stab wound that her former leader had inflicted upon her.

"Oh my god, I forgot how much of an idiot you were," the former partner of Summer Rose groaned in frustration.

00000

AN:

Now the plot is really moving.

To those very familiar with the RWBY continuity, you should have an idea on what is going to happen to Team RWBY. To those who aren't, you should either find out for yourself or patiently wait for the next chapter like everyone else.


	34. Preparing For War Part 1

AN:

Remnant of a Rose officially has the highest reviews out of all of the Destiny crossovers. Even though it's not the most faved Destiny crossover, thank you guys so much and I hope you will stick with the story until the end.

00000

Chapter 34

Cayde-6 idly twirled his knife as he walked the hallways of the Tower. It was the first time that he was back in the Tower ever since he and Fireteam Nero took control of the Dreadnaught but he was already missing the time that he spent on the field.

It was fortunate for him that his colleagues at the Vanguard told him that he would still be sent back into the fray after some preparations were done.

In the meantime, there was something that the Hunter Vanguard had been meaning to return as he stopped in an empty hallway. Cayde had his Ghost scan for any presence in the vicinity and he was satisfied to see that there was none. He placed his hand on the wall next to him and channeled his Light into the masonry.

There was a very small flicker in the air that even _Cayde-6_ could have missed it if he wasn't expecting it to happen. The Exo didn't need to check that he was now invisible to every hawk-eyed Guardian and Ghost. After that, a holoscreen appeared before him, asking for verification.

"Omega Lambda six Atlas' Fall," Cayde spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

After confirming the verification codes, a projector popped out of the wall and scanned the Hunter Vanguard from head to toe. It was no doubt analyzing him down from the circuits that composed his form to his very soul to ascertain that it was really him and not some cleverly disguised imposter who had managed to find out the codes.

Cayde's body may be replicated but not even Gods could create an exact duplicate of another person's soul for each one was too unique that attempting the feat would tear apart the soul in question.

The scanner finished examing him and it retracted back where it came from. The Hunter Vanguard put his knife away as the wall in front of him opened up to reveal a small pristine metal room that could only fit one person. He stepped inside and the wall was sealed shut as the air began to decompress. A moment later, the Hunter Exo could himself slowly descend, revealing the room to be a one-man elevator

If Cayde wasn't an Exo, then he would have begun to suffocate from how the air in the elevator was being sucked out. Not even the _air_ itself was allowed passage into wherever he was going.

This security system was one of a kind and it would be considered downright overkill even by the most paranoid of people but seeing how this security system protected the Vault where the most dangerous artifacts resided, one could say that it wasn't enough.

And it was this very Vault where Cayde-6 'borrowed' Dreadfang from and now, it was about time that he returned it.

The doors opened and the Exo stepped out, spotting the multiple pedestals that contained the artifacts in the bare room.

On the off chance that someone was able to breach the security, each container was lined with a super dense metal alloy that was virtually impenetrable so the only way to get to the artifacts inside was to bypass the twenty-one digit algorithm that changed every hour.

If it wasn't for Cayde's advanced clearance level as a Vanguard, then not even he would have been able to access the Vault, let alone retrieve any of the artifacts inside. It was a good thing that Dreadfang, along with the Taken-forged shotgun, Stolen Will had a low priority security out of all of the artifacts inside.

The Hunter Vanguard approached the only empty pedestal and took out the Taken-forged sword from his inventory. His fingers flitted across the holopad as his Exo mind worked in tandem with his Ghost to compute the necessary algorithm to bypass the security. It took him over ten minutes to disable the firewalls and the alarm, which spoke how difficult the task was.

One of the container's sides slid open and he placed Dreadfang with its blade facing down inside the container before it slid shut once more.

Cayde sighed. With all the effort it took to get the damn thing open, it took a whole lot less than that to close it.

He shouldn't complain though as he glanced at the other pedestals. Considering what the other artifacts locked up here were, it was highly justified.

His optics stared at the only two artifacts that would _never_ see the light of day ever again. If it was up to Cayde, then he would have had those artifacts destroyed effective immediately but he knew that the destruction of those artifacts would unleash a Darkness that the Guardians had bled and died to vanquish.

In one pedestal laid a large chunk of crystal. The crystal was the pitchest of black and it seemed to greedily _consume_ the meager light that fell upon its form. It shouldn't be surprising really since that crystal contained the soul of Crota.

After Summer Rose used Crota's soul to traverse the Ruptures in the Dreadnaught to reach Oryx, the Vanguard took possession of the crystal and had it locked away in the Vault. With Crota's soul still trapped within the crystal, there would be no way for the Son of Oryx to revive and renew his rampage against the Light.

Speaking of Oryx, Cayde shifted his gaze to the pedestal beside the soul crystal. What was inside the container looked far different than Crota's soul crystal but it essentially served as the same function as the soul crystal.

It was a gun wrapped in leather with a bayonet attached to the bottom of the barrel but its most distinguishing feature was the set of rings that rotated in a gyro-scope manner with a unearthly black glob floating in the center of the rings. It was as if someone had extracted a piece of the Darkness and had inserted it into a gun.

The Touch of Malice.

It was a gun that Eris Morn had forged with the help of Summer Rose to capture the Taken King's remaining essence and to prevent him from ever returning much like what happened to his son with the soul crystal.

If the Vanguard believed a weapon created from the essence of the Taken was not to be trusted within the hands of the young Guardian, then it was without certainty that they would never allow _anyone_ to wield a weapon created from the very Heart of Oryx himself.

Cayde-6 was amused by the fact that it was his protégé who was responsible for collecting these extremely dark relics.

The Hunter Vanguard was amused by the fact that the most dangerous relics locked in this Vault was due to his own protégé's efforts.

He intensely stared at the Touch of Malic as if trying to force its secrets with his gaze alone.

That and because in spite of his current condition, the Taken King was _still aware_ of what was going around the gun. Any attempts to study the weapon ended with the researchers nearly having their lives sucked out of them. The same happened with anyone trying to wield it.

The only exception was Summer Rose and even then, the Touch of Malice would greedily feed off of her Light to fuel its own dark power. Then there were the soft whispers that Summer claimed she heard whenever she used the weapon.

The whispers spoke of dark secrets that she had trouble remembering and they tempted her to commit malicious deeds just to prove her strength. The White Rose never went into detail on what the whispers told her but it unnerved her enough to willingly let the Vanguard seal the accursed weapon away and then throw away the key.

It was the first time that Summer was repulsed by the mere sight of a weapon and it emphasized how much the Touch of Malice should stay locked away. It also proved that despite being reduced to such a meager existence, the Taken King remained a danger in his own right.

Cayde liked to see himself as above such petty emotions like hate but he would have loved nothing more than to rip out the Hive God's heart from the Touch of Malice and ground it against the bottom of his boot for what he tried to do to Summer if there wasn't a high possibility of the Taken King resurrection when the heart fragment was removed from its container.

Sending one last glare at the Touch of Malice, Cayde turned on his heel and made his way to the elevator.

Even though it was Oryx's plan all along for his heart to be used in the construction of the Touch of Malice as his final means of maintaining his immortality, the Guardians weren't going to give him the satisfaction of helping him follow the Hive's Sword-logic.

But enough about the Hive. Cayde had a war with both the Cabal and the Vex to plan.

00000

The White Rose and the Crimson Raven locked eyes with one another in an intense standoff but it didn't seem that way as the latter kneeled in a pool of her own blood. However, Raven's wound looked worse than it actually was and her Aura was already slowly yet surely healing it for her. It still hurt but the veteran Huntress had experienced far worse pain before.

Like the ever increasing migraine that her former leader, Summer Rose was giving her.

"For the last time, I am _not_ Yang, you idiot!" Raven Branwen shrieked as her hand clenched and unclenched reflexively for her nodachi while the other pressed against her slightly bleeding injury.

Seeing that dumb expression on Summer's face after her helmet dematerialized pushed Raven's impatience to new heights and it was a miracle that the woman didn't try to attack the shorter woman with her bare hands instead.

"Wait, if you're not Yang, then why do you look so much like her?" the subject of so many of her frustrations questioned with a tilt of her head as the Guardian still held the kneeling woman at swordpoint, "Ooh, I know! You're either actually her twin sister or a near identical half-sister!"

"I'm her mother," Raven deadpanned. It would have slightly stroke her ego that she could be mistaken for her offspring's sister if the person mistakenly identifying her as another one of Taiyang Xiao Long's daughters wasn't Summer.

The female Branwen could practically hear the gears grinding in whatever constitutes as a brain in that dolt's dense skull. A few moments later, the red eyed woman could have sworn that she heard a loud ding as the metaphorical lightbulb lit up in her former partner's silver eyes.

"…I'm pretty certain she called _me_ mom," Summer replied.

"I helped you and Taiyang make the girl in the first place."

"What do you mean by helping me and Taiyang make Yang?"

"I'm the other biological donor for Yang Xiao Long," Raven sighed as she felt the beginnings of a migraine about to take root.

"Oooooh," the Guardian finally realized who this person was and she pulled her sword away from Raven's throat, "You're Raven Branwen, aren't you?"

"Obviously," the woman deadpanned once more as she stood up. Her Aura had finally stopped the bleeding in her gut so she now could move around with little issue again. However, any intense movements like engaging in combat would reopen it so she should still take it easy for now, "It looks like Qrow's right after all. You really did lose your memories."

Raven could also remember how much of a dimwit that Summer was back in their first year in Beacon Academy. Although, to be fair, Summer had an education that could hardly be classified as decent before she enrolled into Beacon and she was able to learn at a remarkably fast rate.

But it looked like whatever had caused the White Rose to lose her memories also reverted her back into her idiotic self.

If the situation wasn't so dire, then Raven would have wanted nothing to do with Summer Rose again. Not until she regain most of her old personality at least.

The female Branwen watched her former partner twirl the single-edged sword in her hand before sheathing. She noted that even though Summer's new sword shared similar features with her original sword, Blanchefleur, it was of a superior quality than the White Rose's old weapon. Even her twin's scythe and her own dust blades paled in comparison to the sleek craftsmanship of Summer's new sword.

Whoever forged that sword was clearly a very skilled swordsmith of the highest class.

"Wait a minute, I thought the White Fang hated humans so why do you wear a Grimm mask like them?" Summer asked warily as her hand hovered next to the holstered black hand cannon.

Raven couldn't help but narrow her eyes in suspicion for she was certain that knocked that gun away from Summer. How the hell was she able to retrieve it without the masked swordsman noticing.

"The White Fang weren't the first to wear the face of monsters to inspire fear in their victims," Raven explained as she warily eyed that black gun at Summer's waist while discreetly creating a small portal where the handle of her nodachi slipped into her hand. The blade was still inside the portal but it would only take less than a second to pull it out all the way, "I have worn that mask far before the White Fang started acting like the beasts that they fervently claimed to be different from."

"One more question," the White Rose said with the utmost seriousness that instantly put Raven on high alert until she heard what was Summer's question, "What does 'fervently' mean?"

Left eye twitching sporadically, Raven thought back to all the times that her former leader had caused her grief. The sharp and clearly audible intake of air that went through the woman's nostrils indicated that she was in the midst of losing control of her temper.

Then the former member of Team STRQ remembered one crucial detail.

"You're immortal, right?" Raven inquired as her fingers tightened around the nodachi's hilt while her other hand covertly transported her Grimm mask in its grip.

"In a sense, yeah," Summer replied while getting a sense of foreboding for some reason.

"Perfect."

"Oh boy, here we go again."

00000

Cayde-6's eyes glided over the assembled Guardians and he could see the remaining members of Fireteam Nero standing in the back. The Exo counted over thirty Guardians. Most of them were veterans with a century or two under their belts while the rest were the very few recent Guardians that Lord Shaxx saw promise in.

Very little promise actually but since the Crucible handler was not one to give out praises especially to the newest batch of Guardians, it was still a rather ego-boosting compliment from the old Titan.

Then there was Fireteam Nero.

Ever since Summer joined the Exo Titan and the Awoken Warlock to form the fireteam, they had grown leaps and bounds compared to their peers. Even though Prometheus-23 and Lux Sylphid used to be considered mediocre by Shaxx before the young Hunter came along, Summer's natural talent pushed those two to quickly catch up so now, Fireteam Nero was a force to be reckoned with even against the gods themselves.

But the Hunter Vanguard was beginning to digress.

"I'm sure all of you are aware why you're gathered here today so I'll keep this brief," Cayde-6 announced to the gathered Guardians.

"We recently stumbled across intel that one of our colonies still exist and that they're currently under attack by the Vex."

Cayde could hear the Guardians with the exception of Fireteam Nero murmur amongst themselves like a bunch of gossiping school children. In response, the Hunter Vanguard took out one of his hand cannons and fired a round into the air, immediately silencing the gossipy bunch.

A little excessive but some of Summer's quirks had rubbed off of him.

"Remember, every second wasted here chatting like old housewives is another second that Remnant has to fight the Vex," Cayde reprimanded as he stowed his gun away, "So get your acts together."

"Or else you will answer to me," a voice that resonated with the brass rumble of authority echoed across the room, causing everyone except for Cayde to rigidly stand at attention on instinct. To do otherwise would only bring upon them a fate far worse than any death that could befall a Guardian.

Heavy armour clinking, Lord Shaxx, the Crucible handler himself strode purposefully into the room before he stood next to the Hunter Vanguard. The horned helmet turned to regard the Guardians and the person inside huffed. Whether in approval or not was yet to be certain for the second student of the last Iron Lord, Saladin Forge, was not one to be so easily impressed.

"Glad you could join us, Shaxx," Cayde greeted with a wave of his hand. The Exo Hunter was one of the _very_ few people who would dare act so casually with the old Titan.

Summer tried to do so once. Needless to say but it was quite awkward for the young Hunter as the Crucible handler silently stared at her through his seemingly-visorless helmet.

It was also a mere coincidence that the White Rose was pitted against war-hardened veterans while her teammates were complete novices that barely knew which end of the gun where the bullets came out of in the next Crucible match after that incident. That would be extremely petty for a man like Shaxx to do.

"Alright, here's how things are gonna play out," the Hunter Vanguard said as he ordered his Ghost to project a hologram of the battle plan, "We're gonna split our forces into two ranks. The majority will take their jumpships and accompany the Dreadnaught to break through the Vex barricade and to reach the Vex transfer gate to Remnant. Half of the jumpships will break off from the main fleet and go through the gateway, providing air support for the people of Remnant while the rest will deal with the remaining Vex and Cabal."

"This operation will be led by Commander Zavala who has assumed command over the Dreadnaught."

"We, the smaller group, are going to be the ground troops. We'll be the first to step foot on Remnant once the Gateway is up and running so our job is not only to be the ones leading the initial assault but to also set up transmat zones for our comrades' jumpships. This op will be led by yours truly," Cayde gestured to himself.

"Keep in mind that we will be dropped off in most likely hostile territory so a third force will be making sure that nothing comes through the Gateway on _either ends_. We don't want the House of Devils to enter Remnant nor do we want any Grimm to start pouring in on our end so this task will fall unto none other than Lord Saladin Forge, who graciously volunteered to lead the defense."

"Any questions?"

"What about Summer?" Lux Sylphid spoke up as she resisted the urge to pull out a cigarette. At least not until Lord Shaxx was out of eyesight.

"…Our main priority is to defend the people of Remnant so Summer's safety would be secondary to that," the Exo Hunter answered, also not liking it yet accepted it as necessary, "I'm sorry. It's just how it is."

"Hmph, as if that little upstart is incapable of defending herself," Lord Shaxx scoffed as he crossed his arms over his thick armoured chest, "If she is even half as worthy as her many titles, then the White Rose's current predicament would not be so dire. I believe she would be more concerned over the safety of Remnant than her own."

"It doesn't mean we're gonna leave Summer to die," Cayde added, "It's just that we shouldn't worry about her and trust she can take care of herself. I'm also absolutely sure that there's no blonde bastard out to woo her."

Lux and Prometheus begrudgingly agreed with the Hunter Vanguard and the veteran Titan. It may have been a month since they lost contact with Summer Rose but Fireteam Nero had been trapped in the Vault of Glass for what seemed like much longer. The White Rose could handle whatever the Vex threw at her and it wasn't like she would be alone to face the enemy since she had an entire civilization at her back.

It didn't quite compare to an army of Guardians but it was better than nothing.

Wait, what was that last part?


	35. Preparing For War Part 2

AN:

To guest reviewer, A fan: I'm sorry but I am not accepting any story idea proposals. You have to make do with what I already have.

00000

Chapter 35

Ozpin sat behind his desk as several holoscreens hovered in front of him. The screens would have been showing the shadowed images of the Council but there was an old almost forgotten law that stated the Headmasters of the Huntsmen academies would now be the highest authority in a time of crisis so every action in the war against the Vex was devised by the combined effort of the Headmasters and not the Council.

The Councils may be able to offer some plan of attack or something similar but it was the Headmasters who would have the final say on what they should do. Furthering their own personal agendas had no place in a battle of survival.

It was a good thing that the Ghost, Drei was able to inform them of this particular law or else the Councils would have elected to have Summer Rose's possessions turned over to them and continue the study of the scavenged Vex remains instead of having them disposed of.

Summer would not have parted with her technology willingly and the consequences of her retaliation would have been dire for all of Remnant. The Councils were still too arrogant to consider that none of their countermeasures against rogue Huntresses would have worked on the Guardian, especially when the person in question was already aware of those same countermeasures.

Ozpin and Ironwood had not personally seen the new Summer Rose in action but they knew that she was a very cunning and ruthless strategist from the accounts of her opponents. It wouldn't be inconceivable for her to devise dozens of counters for the Council's countermeasures for her.

Summer only needed to fight Qrow Branwen once and she already knew how to take the veteran Huntsman down quickly and efficiently.

Knowledge was power and even though the current Summer Rose may act the fool more often than not, she wielded this power to its utmost potential. The Guardian was indeed a incredibly dangerous enemy to have.

One that the Councils were foolish enough to provoke.

While antogonizing the White Rose was unwise, direct exposure and experimentation with Vex technology was even more so.

They were given explicit warnings against tampering with the alien technology despite how tantalizing the opportunity to study alien remains was. The Vex was beyond human comprehension and any attempts to garner an understanding of them would lead the researchers to insanity.

The Headmasters of the Huntsmen academies and the Councilmen were given detailed accounts of what happened to people who spent too much time with Vex technology in close proximity. The results were not…pleasant.

It was even enough to convince the normally steadfast General Ironwood to immediately have the Vex remains that the Atlesian military managed to collect disposed off, effective immediately. As much as Atlas relished the chance to advance their technology even further, the cost of self-destruction was just too much for anyone to pay.

Not like the Councils actually cared for the well-beings of their researchers as long as results were made.

Well, it was quite fortunate for the welfare of Remnant that the Ghost dug up that particular law since Remnant had been in a time of peace for over eighty years so any laws concerning war would have been forgotten over time.

Even though those laws were forgotten, it didn't mean that they didn't in fact exist. If it wasn't for those laws, then it would have been up to the Council on how they would proceed in this war they're in and they would have definitely done the two things that would spell destruction for them all.

"What is the current status of Atlas?" Ozpin asked, straight to the point as he turned to regard his fellow headmasters. Now wasn't the time for formalities.

"Most of our weapons had been rendered ineffective against the Vex," James informed them, his steely expression betraying nothing, "But we have been able to hold them off on manpower. However long that would last."

"Mistral?"

"We managed to convince the more seedier aspect of our Kingdom to contribute to the war effort since there's no profit to gain if everyone's dead," the Headmaster of Haven Academy reported, "We have been using the marshes and forests to our advantage through guerilla strikes but the crafty bastards are beginning to adapt pretty damn fast to our strategies. We had to get creative to catch the Vex by surprise and even then, it doesn't last long."

"Vacuo?"

"It's pretty much the same here," the Headmaster of Shade Academy answered, "We're too busy protecting whatever territory we have left to launch a counterstrike. Or one that isn't guaranteed to fail at the very least."

Ozpin had to repress a sigh at that. The Vex were much quicker at adapting than the Grimm were. Only the oldest of Grimm would develop the cunning needed to outsmart their prey but the Vex had shown far more intelligence than the Grimm in the brief period that Remnant had been fighting them.

It was a godsend that the Grimm appeared to be also hostile to the Vex and just as numerous. The Grimm was ironically one of the reasons why some of the outposts and villages outside of the Four Kingdoms were still standing due to the Grimm attacking any Vex unit with an almost obsessive rage so it became a matter of picking off what was left of their quarrel.

It didn't mean that they weren't losing people.

Instead of letting the Grimm hinder them, the Vex used the Grimm's animosity to their advantage. The aliens would use a single Harpy unit as bait to lure a staggering amount of Grimm to a military outpost and let the creatures of Darkness do the work for them before they move in for the kill, effectively wiping out both sides.

And if it wasn't the Vex or the Grimm that killed their men, it was starvation and exhaustion that did. There were barely any lulls in between their attacks so there was hardly enough time to fully recuperate through sleep or food while their foes didn't require any of that.

It made sense that beings who didn't need to sleep or eat like the Guardians were the ones that could counter the Vex.

Then that meant it was about time for Remnant's Guardian to set out to the battlefield. Summer Rose had been standing idly by long enough but in spite of her new abilities, it was unwise to send out their best hope alone.

It was a good thing that Ozpin had the perfect person in mind. He just hoped that Raven would set aside any misgrievances that she still had for the White Rose.

00000

"Did you finally work that out of your system?" Summer cautiously asked, keeping her guard up in front of her former partner, Raven Branwen.

The woman in question was panting hard and she shakily held her crimson nodachi in front of her. It took her a few moments to catch her breath and she was back in fighting condition once again. Raven was still far from peak condition but she could keep this up for hours if she had to.

Glancing at her cracked Dust blade, the mask swordswoman concluded that even though her body could fight for hours on end, her weapons couldn't. Summer's new sword had proven to be of superior quality than her blades time and time again since three Dust blades had been shattered from clashing with the alien sword one too many times and her current one was already reaching its limit.

There were times where the blade of Summer's sword retracted, leaving her with an empty hilt but it seemed that the former leader of Team STRQ had acquired a mastery over firearms and knives that she never had in her previous life, which stalled Raven long enough for her sword to recharge (for lack of better words). It would only be a matter of time until Raven had run out of Dust blades.

Raven would have found it humorous that her former partner was now proficient in tactics that Summer had considered as dishonorable in the past if it wasn't for how the Guardian easily kept pace with her no matter the intensity of their blows while seldomly resorting to those sneaky tactics.

The former member of Team STRQ may have experience with unarmed combat but it was severely lacking compared to Summer Rose since the White Rose was able to hold her own without any weapons against an armed Raven for a short while. She was under no illusion that she could match her former leader in that regard and that was under the assumption that Summer decided to put her weapons away after Raven ran out of blades.

Then there was that twisted looking hand cannon in Summer's hand. The bullets that it shot were far too big to have come from the barrel and a mere glancing blow from them was enough to make a noticeable dent on her Aura even when they were sucessfully deflected with her sword. And if she wasn't imagining it, the gun seemed to gleam in delight everytime its bullets did damage on her Aura. With Summer's gun and sword, Raven was in a disadvantageous position.

Their current battleground fared no better.

The roof that they had their fight on now looked like a dilapidated battlefield where several wars had occurred almost non-stop. It was nothing short of a miracle that the whole place hadn't collapsed in on itself yet.

The fight may have lasted for only a few short minutes but for two veteran warriors like Summer and Raven, it felt much longer.

And the White Rose didn't even look the least bit winded.

Of course, Raven was unaware that Summer no longer experienced any physical fatigue due to her altered nature as a Guardian so the latter could fight for days and even weeks on end if the situation called for it.

In a battle of attrition, victory was all but assured for Guardians.

With a huff, Raven flicked a hidden switch on the hilt of her nodachi, ejecting the damaged blade. The blade fell to the floor where it broke into several pieces as the former member of Team STRQ placed the empty hilt back into its scabbard. The revolving mechanism in the sheathe immediately inserted a new blade into the hilt and yet she made no move of drawing her sword once more.

"For now," Raven replied, brushing her long black locks back and adjusting her mask. She didn't want to admit it but Summer's fighting prowess had drastically improved compared to the last time that they fought.

"Awesome," Summer said, unperturbed even though her old friend that she barely remembered had tried very hard to cut her into ribbons. It wasn't like it was the first time that her former partner tried to kill her.

Although, it made the Guardian wonder if she had terrible luck with partners due to her experiences with Diana Collete, Lux Sylphid and Raven Branwen.

But enough about Summer's history of partners trying to kill her.

"So what brings you here?" the Guardian inquired, earning a deadpan stare from the taller woman from behind her mask.

"My old friend had suddenly returned from the grave right before alien cyborgs arrived trying to kill everyone," Raven replied like it was the most obvious thing to say (which it honestly was), "Everyone also includes me so I came to Vale for a place to recuperate and I heard you were here so I decided to pay a visit."

"Makes sense," Summer nodded in understanding before the door to the roof burst open as a platoon of Atlesian Knights running out with their guns aimed at the both of them.

"Interlopers, surrender peacefully or this unit will use force," the lead android declared in monotone.

The two veteran warriors snorted in clear disdain of the androids. The Knights had proven to be ineffective many times already and no number of the androids could hope to overwhelm the Guardian and the former Huntress especially when they were working together. But they didn't even have to raise a single finger to deal with these pesky bots due to Summer's Ghost, Drei already having full control over the Atlesian Knights directives.

Then without warning, the ground beneath the former Huntresses and androids crumbled, sending them plummeting down the floor below. The already damaged area must have reached its limits and couldn't hold up the combined weights of the androids and the two former Huntresses so it fell apart under the strain. Despite being caught off guard, Summer and Raven were not concerned in the least as they performed their own version of teleportation to safety.

Rematerializing in a swirl of white rose petals, Summer leaned back on one of the couches in the room they fell in while Raven casually walked out of a portal and leaned against the wall.

Teleportation may not be perfect but it was certainly very helpful, which was why fighting teleporters could be very frustrating.

"Wow, we sure _brought the roof down_ ," the Guardian quipped with a grin as she pointed at the gaping hole above them. She may have already used that joke before with whitey and Qrow but comedy was all about saying or doing the right thing at the right time and she thought that joke was the right thing to say at the moment.

The White Rose was correct on certain accounts on comedy but she was still under the assumption that puns were the clever things to say in those circumstances in spite being obstinately told otherwise on multiple occasions by the recipients of her jokes.

"I heard about _raining cats and dogs_ but I never knew that it could rain robots too!" she added jovially as the gathered Atlesian androids fell into the room a few seconds later. The Guardian had to give it to the newer models though. At least the bots were still fully functional after a short fall like that but not for long since Drei had already shut them down.

Raven's hand twitched as if it was itching to reach for her sword once more. Her teeth were gritting so audibly hard against each other that they were in danger of breaking. Her face flushed red and veins furiously throbbed on her forehead but it could not be seen due to the Grimm mask concealing them.

 _Oh no!_ Branwen already had to endure Summer's bad jokes for years! She will not tolerate one more!

"Guardian, now is not the time to be making jests," Drei reprimanded his Guardian as he materialized in front of her, taking Raven by surprise, "Especially when they're terrible ones."

"Hey, those jokes were clever!" the White Rose retorted petutantly.

"No, they're not," the Ghost and the masked swordswoman refuted in unison. The woman and the AI paused for a second before staring at each other.

…

…

They had only just met but Drei and Raven found a connection with one another. A connection formed from having to deal with the airhead known as Summer Rose for so many years.

The two nodded at each other in acknowledgment before they turned to glare at the subject of their shared ire. Well, it was hard to tell if they were glaring due to one of them wearing a mask while the other lacked the means to physically express his emotions but Summer could still tell that they were glaring at her nonetheless.

"Eep!" the Guardian yelped in fear of the combined might of their glares as she hid behind the couch that she landed on earlier.

"Summer, what happened!? Where are you!?" Taiyang Xiao Long cried as he crashed into the room from the hole above with his dual-ranged gauntlets out and ready to bring in the pain. The blonde man's weapon was highly reminiscent to his daughter's weapon and from his stance, Summer figured that he was the one responsible for teaching the young spitfire how to fight.

Whatever bold declaration that he was about to say next died on his lips as he finally took notice of the other occupant in the debris-filled room. Even though she was wearing a mask, he could still recognize Raven Branwen, the mother of his first child anywhere.

After all, it wasn't just the face that Tai was well-acquainted with. Even with their faces covered, he could still accurately identify Summer and Raven through looking at… _other assets._

It still didn't detract the awkwardness of the situation. Seriously, it was like bumping into your two exes at the same time in the bar.

Not an entirely accurate comparison and yet it was not wrong.

"It's just one thing after another with you, Guardian," the Ghost sighed in resignation. He was far too accustomed of the White Rose's tendency to make a situation spiral out of control so fast.

The tension in the room was so palpable that you could cut it with a knife. Sweating profusely, Taiyang shifted his gaze back and forth between the mothers of his children before he audibly gulped.

"Oh fuck me," the blonde man muttered under his breath but he might as well shouted with how silent the room was.

"We already did that," Raven spoke up, increasing the awkwardness of the situation even further, "Repeatedly, I might add."

"We already did what?" Summer asked in honest confusion as she peeked out behind the couch, "What are guys talking about?"

"I'll tell you when you're older, Guardian," Drei sighed once more.

"You and the others are always saying that! Does this have anything to do with where babies come from? Because everytime I ask you guys about that, you always clam up pretty quickly and never answer my questions!"

Despite not drinking anything at the time, Taiyang and Raven did a spit-take over Summer's revelation that she didn't know (or more likely forgot) where babies came from. Tai pounded his chest and cleared his chest a bit while the female Branwen took off her mask to remove the accumulated saliva from her spit-take.

After recovering, Taiyang stared expectantly at the mother of his first child while she put the Nevermore mask back on.

"What?" Raven demanded as she noticed that the blonde man was now staring at her in a different way before she had a sudden realization, "I am not giving her the sex talk again!"

00000

The Vex were close. So close to their goal. They would finally regain strength that the White Rose and the Hive God, Oryx had taken from them.

Taking this Forgotten World and purging its inhabitants were merely the first steps to achieve the Collective's dominance over the other anomalies. The key component to their equation was the same formula that had propelled the survival of this planet's populace.

Dust. Nature's wrath compacted into a crystalline form. The primitives had yet to understand the origins or the implications of their involvment with the energy propellant in spite of its widespread use prevalence in their society. They were ignorant to the significance of what they called Dust.

But the Vex knew. The collective was aware of the true nature of Dust and most importantly, its source. The substance was all but useless to the Collective due to its inability to function outside of the Forgotten World's atmosphere. However it was an issue that could easily be rectified once the source of Dust was within the Collective's grasp.

The Grimm Mother had realized the Collective's endgame and had desperately sent her offsprings to prevent them from reaching it. It was a futile effort however. The Grimm Mother's powers were not comparable to even a _fraction_ of the Son of Oryx's might, let alone the Taken King himself. She was merely delaying the inevitable.

However, the Collective's concerns were focused on the one being that had thwarted them time and time again. The one that had reduced the Collective to such a pitiful state in this timeline.

Summer Rose and her brood were the Vex's top priority but the former's nature as a Lightbearer made her all but invisible to their equations. The Collective would have shifted their efforts to the younger Rose instead but the Young Rose's awakening of her lineage had caused her to ascend into a presence comparable to that of a Lightbearer so she too could not be replicated in their simulations.

However, Ruby Rose had barely even scratched the surface of her heritage so she didn't not possess the same strength as her mother but the potential to become a threat even greater than the White Rose still existed. The Red Rose could grow into a just as unpredictable variable like her mother.

This must not be allowed to come into fruition.

But the descendants of the Roseus family would have to be secondary to what they sought on Remnant. What they were seeking had many names that were lost to time but not for beings that existed outside of time itself.

The Creator of Remnant, the Propagator of Dust and the Old Man were some of the names that the being possessed but its true name was none other than Monty Oum, a disciple of the Traveler.

00000

AN:

And there you have it folks! The reason why the Vex are on Remnant. A RWBY fanfic is incomplete without some form of tribute or reference to the great Monty Oum. May he rest in peace.

I avoided giving the other headmasters names and I will continue to do so until they're properly introduced in the show.


	36. Stand Together

Chapter 36

Notwithstanding Summer's ignorance of where children came, the awkwardness of the situation was lessened by Raven taking her leave but that still left Taiyang and his former lover.

They may have lessened the divide between them these past few days but there was still a trace of discomfort on Summer's end and a hint of longing on Taiyang's. The two stood in silence until the blonde man got a wonderful idea to break the ice.

"I'm not sure if you remember this story but do ya wanna hear about the time I tricked Qrow into wearing a skirt?" Taiyang said, grinning at the memory.

The Guardian simply stared at him for a few moments, making him wonder if he messed up before her cheeks puffed up from repressed laughter. The silver eyed woman covered her mouth with both hands but it was useless for her mirth could not be contained any longer with the image of the scythe-master wearing a skirt in the forefront of her mind.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Summer bellowed in uproarious laughter as she rolled around on the couch with her legs kicking in the air.

The old dragon felt a warm smile form on his face from nostalgia. This Summer Rose may be more bold and childish than the one that he knew but it looked like some things never change.

"Man, I wish I could remember that one!" Summer chuckled a bit as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "I would do anything just to see that agai-"

The Guardian cut herself off as a nefarious scheme began to formulate in that twisted mind of hers. Her silver eyes flashed in a very familiar manner.

"Uh oh," Drei noted in alarm, recognizing that gleam far too well while Taiyang remained confused.

The former member of Team STRQ didn't recognize the danger for what it was. The old Summer Rose may have been a bit of an airhead (some would argue over the 'a bit' part) but she managed to follow the rules as best as she could. It was usually either Qrow or Tai that caused trouble with the authority and not their former leader.

He may not be able to identify the danger of the gleam in Summer's eyes but the way her mouth curved in a serial killer-like grin could clue even the most oblivious of people in.

"I wonder what Qrow's dress size?" Summer giggled maniacally as her shoulders shook with unholy mirth.

Meanwhile, a dusty old crow was about to place the tip of his flask in his mouth but stopped abruptly as he felt intense shivers crawling down his spine. The male Branwen was by no means superstitious but he lived long enough to trust his instincts. And right now, his instincts were telling him to run like his life, dignity and sanity depended on it.

His instincts were being strangely specific today.

00000

Lux Sylphid abruptly snapped her head up in alarm and began frantically searching the area for trouble. Prometheus-23 was in the midst of performing maintenance on his shotgun, the 4th Horseman when he noticed his teammate's peculiar behavior.

"Is everything alright, Lux?" the Exo Titan curiously inquired as he finished reassembling the 4th Horseman.

"I…I don't know but I have the strangest feeling that Summer's about to do one of her shitty pranks," the Warlock replied, shaking her head a bit, "And it's a prank that I would actually approve of."

Being in the same fireteam as Summer Rose had its ups and downs, namely the ridiculous schemes that the young Hunter did to alleviate her boredom. Oftentimes, Lux was the victim of her numerous pranks, which made the White Rose earn a Nova Bomb to the face for.

Although, there were times that the Awoken joined in on one of Summer's schemes just for the hell of it and they were quite enjoyable to be honest if you weren't on the receiving end of it.

Either way, the purple haired Warlock somehow acquired a seventh sense (she had already unlocked her sixth sense long ago) that alerted her to whenever Summer decided to do something stupid. It sure helped her avoid being an unwilling victim in of Summer's pranks and Lux would occasionally inform Prometheus to get him to stop their younger teammate if the Awoken felt like it.

"Oh dear, I hope it won't cause unnecessary complications with Remnant," Prometheus said in a worried tone as he slung the four barreled shotgun behind his back and took out his hand cannon, Polite Denial 0/1 to work on, "The Vanguard wants to make a good impression with their leaders and show them that we, Guardians are here to help."

"And well…Summer is not exactly suited for something as delicate as forging ties with a foreign power," the Exo Titan added with a cringe as he recalled many of his younger teammate's quirks.

Even though Summer Rose was the one that helped create an alliance between the Reef and the City in the first place, she didn't really make the best of impressions with the Queen's brother, Uldren Sov since she practically assaulted him. If the pompous man had his way, then Summer would have been executed right then and there, subsequently starting a war between the Awoken and the Guardians.

A war with another faction wasn't what everyone needed so it was quite fortunate that the Awoken Queen, Mara Sov herself was able to dissolve any hostilities before they could start. The alliance that was then forged was due to necessities instead of any skills in persuasion that Summer obviously never had.

"No shit," Sylphid scoffed as she absentmindedly stuck a cigarette in her mouth and lit the tip with her Solar powers, "Aside from you, our fireteam has shitty conversational skills."

"Yes, you do," Prometheus agreed as he snatched the cigarette from the Warlock's mouth. Ignoring her indignant protests, the Exo Titan put out the lit cigarette on his armoured palm before it could ignite anything flammable.

Summer wasn't the only one with bad habits and Lux's bad habit was her taking the chance to smoke anywhere, including places where smoking was prohibited like now for example.

Gunpowder in a Guardian's gun was more potent compared to pre-Golden Age weapons so it could provide the bullet with more power and velocity. That was why something that could set it off like an errant cigarette would produce disastrous results such as the weapon blowing up in Prometheus' face.

The Titan could easily shrug off a weapon misfire to the face and the Polite Denial 0/1 wasn't exactly his favorite weapon but it wouldn't be the first time that Lux accidently caused his gun to explode with her chain-smoking so he wasn't going to take any chances.

Seeing Lux's incredulous expression shift to sheepish, the grey colored Exo could tell that she had reached the same conclusion. After all, the Awoken was the one who bought Polite Denial 0/1 for him to replace the last gun that she accidently broke with her smoking habits.

Their attention was then caught by the Hunter Vanguard in the distance. Cayde-6 was currently overseeing a group of engineers as they worked on a transport craft.

The transport craft was a land-based vehicle and like Sparrows, was equipped with an antigrav system. Unlike Sparrows, the craft was far bigger and had less mobility but it could certainly take more damage than them before being destroyed. It was also in the midst of being converted into a more combat-suited vehicle as the team of engineers were installing reinforced plating on its exterior and a machine gun turret on its roof. However, its main purpose was not combat but to carry additional munitions for the Guardians in their excursion to Remnant since the other side of the Gateway led deep into hostile territory and the Guardians weren't sure when they would be able to restock on ammunition.

This vehicle wasn't the only one if its kind as several others had been produced earlier. Not only that, there were a couple of Fallen Pikes and Cabal Intercepters claimed from the battlefield to add to their arsenal. Of course, those too received some modifications specific to the Guardian that claimed them in the first place.

Thirty Guardians may be kind of small for ground troops but they certainly weren't going in under-equipped. If that wasn't enough, Lord Shaxx, one of the most powerful Titans would be accompanying them along with hundreds of Redjacks. This just proved that the Vanguard were not willing to take any chances to save Remnant from the Vex.

"Have you notice that Cayde has been pretty tense lately?" Prometheus pointed out as he watched the Hunter Vanguard's head tersely snapped up in alarm. It had been a while since he had seen his fellow Exo react like that but he couldn't be sure if Cayde's behavior was for the same reason since the usual cause of that reaction was absent these past few weeks.

"Now that you mentioned it, yeah," Lux admitted as she was about to unconsciously light another cigarette but stopped herself from doing so, "He doesn't get like that unless some jackass is trying to get into Summer's pants and I thought we scared all of them off by now."

Yes, the bond between Cayde and Summer was so close that it resembled more like a bond between father and daughter than a student-teacher relationship. Even though Summer could handle herself well in combat, the Hunter Vanguard couldn't help but feel a tad overprotective when someone tried to get romantically/sexually involved with the young Guardian.

"Well, I don't want to assume but Summer _is_ on a different planet where its inhabitants are unaware of our reputation so maybe, she might have caught the eye of some reprobate who doesn't know any better," the Exo Titan suggested tentatively while inwardly hoping he was wrong.

The Awoken's expression darkened and wisps of Void poured out of her eyes so Prometheus felt that it would be prudent to quickly add, "Hypothetically, of course."

Calming down slightly, Lux released a breath, "It better be fucking hypothetical."

As much as she denied it, the Warlock actually held a soft spot for their adorable little Hunter and considered her a sister in all but blood. Summer just had a tendency to worm her way into people's hearts.

"But if it turned out to not be hypothetical," purple haired woman intoned as her mouth began to curl up in a bloodthirsty smirk, "Then we'll teach them lesson."

"I really hoped we didn't have to do that anymore after everyone thought you and Summer were in a romantic relationship but I guess it was too much to ask for," the only level-headed member of Fireteam Nero sighed. Even if it was for the sake of his little sister figure, Prometheus disliked unnecessary violence and would rather choose a more peaceful solution but sometimes, people were too thickheaded to learn their lesson unless it was beaten into them.

"Summer's just too fucking lovable for her own good," Lux casually replied before what her teammate said fully sunk in, "Wait, WHAT!?"

"Oh dear, it appears I may have forgotten to mention that to you," Prometheus-23 sheepishly confessed as he remembered that the only ones unaware of that rumor were the two people it involved, "Just for the record, it was Shiro who spread the rumors in the first place. I had not part in it."

The Titan may be willing to jump in front of his allies to take a fatal blow for them but he was perfectly fine with throwing the yellow garbed Hunter under the bus if it meant diverting the ire of his most volatile teammate from him.

"SHHHIIIIRRROOOOOOOOOO!"

At least, Shiro had a better chance of escaping from Lux Sylphid's wrath than Prometheus-23 did.

00000

Emerald Forest was situated very close to Beacon Academy but it didn't mean there were no dangers lurking within its trees. The creatures of Darkness, known as the Grimm called this place home and they would prey upon any human or faunus that were foolish enough to trespass on their domain.

The lupine of their kind were the first to reach their latest prey as a small red hooded figure stood within their sights. Three pairs of claws rushed to find purchase in the frail human's flesh and with a flash of red and three loud cracks, three bodies fell to the ground in halves as the red hooded human now carried a massive scythe with its curved blade possessing an unnatural black glow.

It would appear that the Beowolves were mistaken. This was no mere human for she was a Huntress (in-training) and she was packing some serious Guardian-level firepower.

Cocking the upgraded Crescent Rose, Ruby Rose twirled the scythe and postioned the head behind her before she pulled the trigger. A burst of black erupted from the barrel as her form was engulfed by the same glow of her scythe, giving her a spectral-like appearance. As the young leader of Team RWBY glided across the forest floor like a ghost amidst the tombstones, her visage was as if it was that of the Grim Reaper.

Although, the more apt term would be 'Grimm's Reaper' as Ruby cleaved several more Beowolves apart in a blink of an eye. The kills were so quick and clean that the once nightmarish monsters floundered for but a scant moment before their own deaths began to register in their simple minds.

And thus kindly, they all scattered as the shadow-garbed reaper vanished from the visual perception.

In this beautiful forest of green, there was naught to be seen in that clearing but the trees and the monstrous inhabitants of the forest being butchered by an unseen spectre. As the Beowolves were being systematically slaughtered, a pair of Ursa Majors saw fit to join their brethen.

Being far older than the slain Beowolves earlier, the bear-like beasts' armour proved to be of a much stronger variety as the young reaper's weapon left sizable gashes on their bony plates yet not fully breaking through the defenses. The force behind the blows were still enough to stagger the beast, leaving its vulnerable necks exposed.

Ruby hooked her scythe on the neck of the first Ursa Majors before squeezing the trigger and decapitating the Grimm with the recoil. Having almost forgotten about the second Ursa, she barely brought her scythe up and caught the savage backhand with the shaft on time.

Even though she was able to block the attack, the Huntress-in-training was still sent flying, forcing her to burrow her weapon into the ground to halt her impromptu flight. Ruby extracted Crescent Rose's blade from the earth and readied it for retaliation but it turned out to be unneeded as a yellow armoured figure descended upon the Ursa Major and landed a devastating hammer kick.

The Ursa was sent crashing into the ground so hard that bits of earth were knocked into the air from the combined force of its fall and weight. Still dazed from the kick, the bear Grimm weakly raised its head before Yang Xiao Long brought her fist down to smash the Grimm's head back onto the ground with a burst of shotgun pellets from Ember Celica.

After Yang dealt the death blow to the Ursa Major, a Beowolf hurled itself at her from behind. Before its claws could even touch her, a white blur slammed into its sides, completely diverting its flight from the yellow brawler. The Beowolf struggled for a moment but the thin blade impaled in its torso was twisted in deeper, finishing it off.

Weiss Schnee extracted Myrtenaster from the dissolving Grimm and straightened her white overcoat. Glyph forming under her feet, she flipped over a pair of Beowolves and swiped her blade while still in the air, smoothly decapitating them. As she landed behind the two headless Grimm, she stabbed Myrtenaster into the earth, sending a wave of ice spears to skewer more Grimm.

More Beowolves came rushing out of the treeline and were about to join their brethren but a black and white figure with its long scarf billowing behind it slid across the ground between them and spun herself and her cleaver-like blade around, severing their legs from the knees.

At the end of the revolutions, Blake Belladonna's left hand held onto the small rectangular hole near the top of the bladed sheath and slid Gambol Shroud from the sheath to stab a Beowolf from under its jaw while she raised the sheath to block another Beowolf's claw. Spinning on her heel, the cat faunus swatted the claw away and slashed at its throat with the katana.

Placing the sheath on her back, Blake shifted the katana into its kusarigama form and swung the flai around her, slicing many more Beowolves into pieces. She reared back her arm and sent the flail soaring towards her. She tilted her head to the side, allowing the blade to harmlessly fly past her where it was caught by her partner, Yang.

Yang swung the cat faunus around her as Blake kicked away at the Grimm surrounding them. As the two Huntresses in training did their tag team attack while the Ice Flowers pair slew more Grimm, a King Taijitu slithers into the clearing where Team RWBY was fighting the Grimm. Blake pulled out the sheath and hooked its sharp edge on a thick tree to halt her flight.

Weiss pointed two fingers at their resident heavy hitter and a series of glyphs materialized before Yang, leading towards the giant Grimm. Blake tugged hard on Gambol Shroud as the blonde girl hurled herself forward unto the glyphs with a burst from Ember Celica. With the cooperation of the three members of Team RWBY augmenting Yang's momentum, the two headed snake Grimm was all but obliterated in one blow, killing it instantly.

The last Grimm, a Beowolf, futilely charged at the three students only for its head to explode into bloody bits.

"Well, that's the last of 'em," Ruby proudly declared with a huge grin from under her helmet as she expelled the spent round that was used to kill the last Grimm from her gun.

The reason for Team RWBY's presence in the Emerald Forest was because there had been issues with the security network. It may not have been that far from civilization but a security malfunction could have dire consequences especially with the war against the Vex ongoing so the first year team was sent to escort the technicians repairing the control centers.

"Y'know, I had my doubts at first but this stuff is pretty handy to have," Yang said as her armour followed her movements well without the slightest hindrance, "And it's surprisingly comfy to wear."

The blonde brawler initially believed the armour that her step-mother, Summer Rose gave to her would be too clunky and uncomfortable to wear but whoever forged the armour knew what they were doing since it didn't hamper her movements and the weight was barely noticeable under her own superhuman strength. She also didn't have to wear any underwear under the tight-fitting rubber suit, which the armour pieces were layered over.

The same could be said for the rest of Team RWBY even though their armours didn't provide the same protection as Yang's. It helped that their new apparells were environment sealed so they were no longer affected by the humidity around them.

Like how Ruby and Yang's thought to have been deceased mother had eloquently put it, it was as if they were wearing nothing at all.

Oh great, now the memory of their mom wiggling her butt in their faces while saying that line was back after they tried so hard to forget it. It was obvious that Summer didn't mean anything sexual about since she lacked the knowledge about sex like her younger daughter in the first place but her daughters still couldn't help but feel a bit awkward.

Aside from the comforts and the protection that Team RWBY's armour had provided them, there was another set of utilities they now had like the ammo counter, inset comms and the radar in their heads-up display (they had a freaking HUD!) like what you would find in video games. But the personal shield module installed in each suit was the by far most useful.

Atlas was in fact capable of creating energy shield projectors but they could never manage to scale it down for personal use nor could they ever make a rechargeable one like how the scientists of Earth had. According to Summer and Drei, it was actually pretty simple to make so it wasn't inconvenient to give each of them one shield module. Like with the Sparrows, she had too much that she didn't know what to do with them besides either selling them or giving them away.

So thanks to the shield modules, Team RWBY no longer had to expend their Auras for protection while Yang's shields were altered in such a way that it wouldn't get in the way of her kinetic energy asborption semblance.

Guardians were perfectly capable of defending their bodies with Aura (or Light as they preferred to call it) but it was more cost efficient to own a rechargeable shield unit during battle than a forcefield that would leave them powerless once depleted.

It was also due to some enemies, like the Hive Knights being able to effortlessly _bypass_ Aura/Light entirely if Guardians used them as shields but the first year team didn't really need to know that part.

As Team RWBY went over the useful functions that their new gear had given them, Ruby received a call on her internal comms.

"Yo," the young team leader greeted with a casual wave of her hand even though the person on the other end couldn't see it.

"The control centers have been repaired, Team RWBY," Tom, the technician that they were assigned to protect, informed her.

Tom was a brown haired man in his late twenties and had an easily forgettable face that the first year team would have trouble recognizing if they ever saw the man again.

"Alright, that's a mission accomplished!" Ruby cheered as she gave her teammates and the technician a thumbs-up.

"Um, not quite yet, Ms. Rose," the technician interjected hesitantly, "There are clear signs that the control centers had been tampered with by an unknown party and the drones found mysterious cages that are being used for capturing Grimm."

"Who would've want to capture Grimm?" Ruby inquired, waiting for the man to answer but it was actually her partner, Weiss who answered.

"Research purposes I suppose," the Schnee heiress remarked, sheathing Myrtenaster at her hip and syncing her comms with their leader, "There is still so much about the Grimm that we don't know about so any new discovery could be groundbreaking."

"Exactly, Ms. Schnee," Tom nodded in agreement, "But research on Grimm was deemed illegal especially with the problems of containing and acquiring live specimens."

"This mission doesn't sound like it's over just yet then," Ruby concluded, face resolute.

The young reaper of Team RWBY may be a carefree spirit but she could be very serious if the situation called for it and much like her mother, she would be very determined to see the mission through to the end.

00000

"I hate you two so fucking much," Qrow growled as he glared at the two people responsible for his current predicament.

Instead of his usual cloak and suit, the man now wore the female uniform of Beacon Academy that was modified to fit his not so feminine frame. And exposed to the world were his surprisingly hairless and well-toned legs.

Qrow's legs had always been an embarassment for him. Unlike most men, his legs had always been pretty hairless and smooth so he was often teased for having legs that most women would die to have.

"Hey, this was all was Summer's idea," Taiyang defended himself as Summer rolled around on the ground and laughed hysterically, "I tried to talk her out of it but you know how that song and dance goes."

The Summer that they knew before may have been a more softspoken person back then but when push came to shove, she would be pretty bullheaded on whatever she put her mind on.

The current Summer appeared to be the same except with none of the inhibitions that the previous one had so she had caused more troubles than what Qrow and Taiyang did during their time in Beacon.

"Guardian, you have a message from Professor Ozpin," Drei materialized and cut off her laughing fit. She didn't really notice the handheld device ring but the Ghost definitely did. He would have easily accessed the scroll and see what the message was but it was the perfect excuse to get her to cease laughing.

"Alrighty then," the Guardian pushed herself up and took out her scroll to see the text message that the headmaster left for her, "It says here to meet him in his office and to bring Tai and Qrow with me."

"Anything else?" Qrow inquired as the Ghost graciously changed his clothes back into his usual outfit. If it was possible, he would gladly buy the little guy a drink.

"He also said that he's reactivating Team STRQ. Whoever the hell they are," Summer replied, not recognizing her former team name.


	37. Stark White

Chapter 37

Team STRQ was one the best teams to have ever graduated from Beacon Academy. Their deeds and accomplishments could be classified as the stuff of legends in the Huntsmen community. Each member was a well-accomplished warrior even prior to Raven Branwen's desertion and Summer Rose's death.

And now, Remnant was facing a new threat that were not the Grimm but were many times deadlie so the team that was once disbanded must come together again to fight this Darkness.

All they had to do was set aside their differences and look past the reasons that separated the once great team in the first place.

Easier said than done due to a multitude of reasons. The leader, Summer Rose had only recently returned to Remnant yet had no memories of her old team. Taiyang Xiao Long still felt a certain longing for the Guardian but it was unfortunately unrequited. Raven Branwen's ideals were too different from the rest, alienating her from the team. Qrow was an old cynic that preferred to drown his problems with alcohol.

Despite being the most suitable team for this mission, they were a collection of the most dysfunctional people that it spoke how desperate Remnant was for their help.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to go with my old team, half of whom tried to kill me earlier, to infiltrate Vex territory and shut down the transfer gates," Summer summarized, arching a brow at Professor Ozpin, "And then after that, kill as much Vex as we can."

"That is correct," the silver haired headmaster said before taking a sip from his mug.

"Sounds simple enough," the Guardian shrugged. It wasn't like it was the first time that she did a mission with people that tried to kill her in the past due to the many Crucible matches with other Guardians and strike missions. In the case of her teammates in Fireteam Nero, they have managed to successfully kill her and yet they were the best of friends.

"The only problem lies with _how_ to take you and Team STRQ to your destination," Glynda Goodwitch added, adjusting her glasses while sparing the leader of the now reinstated Team STRQ a glare. The combat instructor had not fully absolved the Guardian of that Festival of the Lost fiasco, "We may have knowledge of where the gates are but we lacked the means to safely transport you there for even our drones are shot down before they could get close."

"It's no problem actually," Summer spoke up, interrupting the woman's briefing, "We could just use my spaceship to take us there."

"Space…ship?" Qrow voiced unsurely, looking very nervous for some reason, "Didn't you crash land here or something?"

"I didn't actually," she corrected, "I'm pretty sure you guys would've noticed a meteor falling in the biggest continent on Remnant if I did crash landed."

"Still doesn't fill me with confidence with your plan," the scythe-master retorted.

"It also has a fully functioning stealth drive that not even the Vex could see through," Drei added from his perch above Summer's shoulder, "It's how we were able to traverse around Remnant without being detected."

That got everyone's attention.

"I recall the main reason you raided that military outpost was because you needed parts to repair your ship but I do not seem to remember a stealth drive being on the list of stolen property," Glynda noted.

Aside from airship engine parts, an experimental shield generator and artillery were among the report of stolen items. Normally, Glynda and Ozpin wouldn't have authorization to see that report but General Ironwood was able to pull some strings for them.

"That's because the stealth drive is an item from Earth, not Remnant," the Ghost explained, "Even then, it's one of a kind."

"How did you get your hands on such fancy equipment?" Taiyang inquired as he crossed his arms over his well-toned chest.

"The stealth drive was originally my mentor's but he loaned it to me for an important mission and I haven't really gotten around in returning it yet," Summer sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"And how did your…'mentor' get this stealth drive in the first place?"

"He stole it from a super-advanced AI."

…

…

"Is your ship made out of stolen parts?"

"Hmm," Summer looked up in thought before coming to an answer, "Not…entirely. But to be fair, some of those parts were stolen to begin with and I just stole them back."

"This mentor of yours doesn't sound like a good influence," Tai deadpanned, inwardly feeling a shiver whenever he thought about what Summer's mentor was like.

"Oh, you have no idea," Drei muttered exasperatedly as he slowly shook his head/body.

"Well, I still don't trust you behind the wheel," Qrow stated before taking another swig from his flask, "I'm not sure if you remember this but you were a pretty shitty driver back then. You could barely drive a tricycle straight much less an airship so I'm sorry for being a little concerned for my health."

There were reasons why Taiyang Xiao and his at the time lover, Summer Rose decided to settle down in Patch. One of them being to keep the latter from ever being in close proximity with a car.

Originally, Summer came from technological stunted village but that excuse could only go so far with how terrible the Summer that they knew was in driving. Everytime she got behind the wheel, not only would she wreck whatever vehicle she was in but also cause a chaotic amount of damage to the surroundings. It was as if she was cursed to destroy everything in sight while driving.

It wouldn't be so bad if she chose to steer clear from vehicles but she would keep insisting that she'll eventually learn how to drive correctly in spite of concrete evidence that said otherwise.

"That coming from the guy who already went through two liver transplants," the blonde man snarked back while Summer pouted indignantly.

More often than not, it was Qrow who had to be in the same car whenever Summer drove and he was actually a better driver while drunk than she was when sober.

"Liver failure I can deal with," the scythe-master retorted, "Being trapped in an enclosed space with Summer driving? Not so much."

"I'll have you know, jackass, that I'm a fully capable pilot," the White Rose growled, looking equal parts adorable and intimidating, "But if you don't want to be on the same ship as me, then feel free to walk there."

"Oh by the Light, you're actually considering it!" she exclaimed when she saw the contemplative look on the black haired man's face.

"Qrow, if you don't want to come, then that's fine," Tai said, surprising his partner and former lover before a devious smirk took place on his face, "But you'll have to tell Summer about the birds and the bees."

"But doesn't she already know about sex? She was pregnant with Ruby after all," Qrow replied, arching a brow in confusion.

"What does birds and bees have anything to do with sex and pregnancy!?" Summer asked in frustration as she threw her hands up, "And why won't anyone tell me what they are!?"

For an agonizingly long moment, Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen stared slackjawed at the Guardian in disbelief while Professor Ozpin merely took another sip from his mug. Qrow turned pale white as the realization of his leader's obliviousness to sex began to dawn on him while the smirk on the old yellow dragon's face widened.

"Does that answer your question?" Taiy rhetorically asked the dusty old crow, ignoring Summer's tirade about not being told about sex.

"…So when do we leave again?"

There wasn't enough alcohol in the world that could convince him to give anyone the sex talk unless they happened to be his own son and he certainly didn't see that happening anytime soon.

00000

The NS22 Cloud Errant didn't seem that impressive compared to other jumpships but here in a world where space travel only existed in the realms of fiction, it was a masterpiece in spite of the rough patchwork that Summer had done to repair the outer hull.

The rest of Team STRQ (with the exception of Raven Branwen who had yet to join them) gazed upon the spaceship in apparent awe that Qrow had yet to take out his flask of booze.

"Alright, here's the Cloud Errant. She certainly has seen better days but she'll still get the job done," Summer said, gesturing towards the ship with a hint of pride, "Yeah, she sure has brought me out of my fair share of troubles."

"It's almost as much as the time the Cloud Errant brought us _into_ troubles," Drei sardonically added as he hovered towards the ship.

"Hey, I handled myself pretty well those times," the Guardian retorted with a pout, looking like a slightly older version of her daughter.

"And how many times did your recklessness get you killed?"

"A lot," she mumbled, looking downcast. She had long stopped keeping track of the times that she died. It was no doubt that her Ghost knew the exact number of deaths and their specific causes but it would be tactless for him to blurt it out at every opportunity.

"Wait, you died how many times!?" Taiyang exclaimed in alarm.

"I lost count," Summer shrugged like it wasn't such a big deal. It really wasn't such a big deal among Guardians how many times they have died as long as it wasn't their last. Heck, Guardians made sport of killing each other in Crucible matches. They even chuck each other off the Tower for shits and giggles. The White Rose herself was guilty for throwing a good number of Guardians off a balcony.

It wasn't uncommon for veteran Huntsmen to see death as an everyday occurrence since they have definitely seen a lot of that by now but not to the extent of Guardians since death was more of an inconvenience to the latter than something permanent under the right conditions.

Even though Summer and her fellow Guardians were used to brushing off their own deaths like unfortunate injury, Qrow and Taiyang couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved with their newly reinstated leader's indifferent attitude towards her own demise.

The two men shared a look between themselves as Summer approached her spaceship. It took them a brief moment to notice that someone was presently working on the ship, giving it one final tune-up.

"How's she hanging, Neo," Summer cupped her hands around her mouth called out to the technician working on the Cloud Errant.

Neopolitan, now dressed in blue overalls, red goggles and thick black gloves and boots, rolled out from under the ship and gave the Guardian a thumbs-up.

"Wait isn't that the girl one of Torchwick's henchmen?" Qrow pointed out, having recognized the ice cream themed girl due to his own investigations of the criminal underground.

"Well, now she's my henchman with Torchwick behind bars," the Guardian said as she handed an ice cream cone to Neopolitan as payment for a job well done. One of the perks for being able to store food in a data storage was that it would always be in pristine condition so it will never melt or spoil.

The illusionist took the frozen confectionary and dug into it almost greedily while the scythe-master merely shrugged his shoulders and took another swig from his flask.

It would have been a surprise that Summer let a criminal like the multi-coloured girl be so close to her ship much less personally work on it but Neo had proven to be a remarkable engineer because she was able to quickly grasp the structure and inner mechanisms of the Cloud Errant after a brief examination.

Summer had stumbled upon the illusionist girl a third time when the girl was curiously looking over the Cloud Errant. The Guardian would have neutralized the girl right then and there but the wonder in her heterochromatic eyes stopped her from doing so. There was nothing malicious behind the girl's intent but simply, the urge to sate a child's curiosity.

After confronting and reassuring the girl that the Guardian wasn't going to kill her, Summer and Drei began a weird sort of one-sided conversation and learned more about the criminal known as Neopolitan. As it turned out, the petite girl was secretly a huge fan of sci-fi and seeing the real thing for herself was a dream come true for her so she couldn't help but admire the ship in spite of being afraid of its owner.

For someone with such an extensive criminal background, she was really childish when it came to anything that had to do with space as seen when she showed the Guardian her collection of sci-fi books and movies. It was so large that it nearly rivaled Summer's own collection of weapons.

Neo's sparkling brown eyes reminded Summer of Ruby whenever her daughter saw a new weapon to admire so the Guardian conceded to the illusionist girl's silent pleas to work under her. Neo was most likely hoping that working for Summer might give her the chance to go to space and meet more aliens (possibly to kill).

Who knew that such a cold-blooded killer had such a dorky side to her?

It was also a very weird conversation since only Summer and Drei did the talking while Neopolitan quietly communicated through hand gestures. Summer would have found this odd but she had honestly seen weirder.

"Alright, Neo, you can go now," Summer told the multi-coloured girl, earning a nod from the girl before she disappeared in a white flash.

"Do I even want to know how you got your own henchman, Summer?" Taiyang deadpanned after Neopolitan left.

"No. No, you don't," Drei answered as he scanned the Cloud Errant to see the condition of the warp drive. As much as they trust Neo to perform maintenance on the jumpship, the warp drive wasn't something that they would let anyone tinker with because of the sensitivity of the device. Even Summer knew not to needlessly mess around with a warp drive, which spoke of how dangerous it could be.

The blonde man was about to say something else when a big red and black distortion took place next to the ship. The distortion vanished and left several crates of highly explosive Dust in its place while another yet small distortion appeared, which Raven Branwen stepped out of.

"The nerve of Ozpin, making me use my semblance for menial labor," the masked woman muttered under her breath before halting in front of her twin brother.

"Brother," she greeted indifferently.

"Raven," Qrow greeted back, pointedly not calling her his sister. They had ceased to be family a long time ago.

"Xiao Long," she turned her head to the blonde man.

Taiyang said nothing, only giving the mother of his first child a stiff nod.

"Idiot," Raven glared at Summer from under her mask as her gauntlet-cladded hand clenched around the hilt of her nodachi.

Having been called worse by Lux Sylphid, the Guardian simply rolled her eyes and tossed her the feathery object that she managed to snatch during their initial meeting/fight. Raven caught it out of the air and placed it back where it belonged on the right side of her skirt.

"Alright, let's go save the world," Summer declared before Team STRQ beamed up into the Cloud Errant.

The plan was simple. The newly reinstated Team STRQ were to go to the main Vex fortress where the Gate Lord resided, kill the Gate Lord regulating the transfer gates and then blow up said transfer gates.

It was a good thing that the Gate Lord's lair was still quite close to Vale since it was in the same continent and just north of Vale. In a twisted sense of irony, Remnant's first counterattack against the Vex was going to happen on the island of Vytal, where the four kingdoms first negotiated and declared peace.

After this war, Remnant will have another reason to celebrate the Vytal Festival, assuming they survive, of course.

00000

Meanwhile, the Hunter Vanguard examined the reports about how the contributions to the war effort was proceeding.

Everything seemed to running smoothly thus far. Lord Saladin's team was able to construct fortifications on their end of the Gateway to keep the House of Devils away while Commander Zavala had already begun the space battle with the Dreadnaught and his fleet against the Vex and the Cabal.

The modified transport trucks, now dubbed as Rams, were being outfitted with Cabal-based weaponry like the Heavy Slug Throwers that the Cabal's Colossus heavy infantry units wielded. Say what you want about the Cabal but they certainly knew how to deal as much damage as possible in the span of seconds and right now, they needed that instead of precision to deal with vast amount of Grimm and Vex that they would no doubt face.

Cayde repressed a shudder when he recalled that Lord Shaxx insisted on driving one of the Rams into battle. It was quite fortunate that he was going to be on his sparrow instead of being in the same vehicle as the Crucible Handler since the old Titan had a tendency to be very enthusiastic in both his driving and fighting.

Honestly, the man had seen one too many Crucible matches.

But there was one particular report that caught Cayde-6's eye. The Exo Hunter quickly constructed a brief message before sending it to the Guardians in his team, including Lord Shaxx.

 _The Gateway's now fully operational. Load up and prepare for deployment._

00000

AN:

Not much action here since I'm reserving that for the next chapters.

It has been a while since I've done this but what the hell, here's the continuation of the list of things Summer Rose is no longer allowed to do.

Omake:

61\. When fire doesn't seem to be effective the first time, the next course of action _isnt_ to use more fire.

62\. I know this is abusing the missives but I know you stole my sparrow and when I find you, I'll make you wear a sign that says you stole - Nevermind, nevermind! It's right here! Sorry about that, kiddo.- Cayde-6

Vanguard Cayde-6 – Do not use the missives unless absolutely necessary and be sure to check first before throwing (mostly) unfounded accusations.

63\. Guardians may be capable of turning their necks around like an owl but please refrain from doing so in the presence of non-Guardians unless it is during the Festival of the Lost.

64\. Do not refer to the wolves found in Felwinter's Peak as the Iron Lords' mascot or at the very least, not in Lord Saladin Forge's presence.

65\. The correct way to deal with a cockroach infestation is _not_ the liberal use of firearms or Light abilities. Do remember to call an exterminator next time.

Guardian Lux Sylphid – That goes for you too. We expected something like this from Guardian Summer Rose but not you.

66\. Yes, we all know that the issue concerning your height is a sore topic but what you did to those Guardians during the Crucible matches may be considered a little drastic. You're fortunate that Lord Shaxx was willing to let these transgressions slide.

To all Guardians – Please do not provoke Guardian Summer Rose about her height. She can be quite vindictive when she wants to. You have been warned

67\. We commend you for installing a censor mod in Guardian Lux Sylphid's helmet. She really needs to watch her language.

Guardian Lux Sylphid – Until you learn to watch your language in front of children, you are hereby forbidden from removing that censor mod.

68\. We all know that Cayde-6 of the Vanguard is your mentor but please stop setting up elaborate traps for him to fall in. We thought you learned your lesson by now ever since Commander Zavala accidently fell in one of them.

69\. We'll tell you when you're older. Please stop asking.

70\. Please do not throw passing Guardians at your fireteammate, Lux Sylphid in an attempt to slow her down.

71\. That also applies to using them as impromptu shields against Guardian Lux Sylphid's Nova Bolts.

72\. We are aware that you were too preoccupied at the time to personally defend the refugees but it does not justify giving a sidearm to _a ten year old boy_ to defend himself with.

73\. No! The fact that it was loaded and the safety was off does _not_ make it better and as impressive as it was for the boy to have shot and killed three dregs, it was still a terribly irresponsible thing to do!

74\. Would you kindly explain why you have barred the entire third floor from everyone else?

75\. What do you mean that the floor turned into lava!? That is simply impossible!

To all Guardians – We are currently investigating this anomaly as to ascertain the exact cause and how to reverse it. In the meantime, please refrain from making contact with the floor on the third level if you must venture through there unless you want to experience a gruesome death by incineration.

76\. Our sincerest apologies for not believing you, Guardian.

77\. I appreciate you crafting a replacement horn for my helmet as thanks for forging Bolt-caster but I would have to respectfully decline due to my own personal reasons. – Lord Shaxx, Crucible Handler

78\. Even though mundane poisons have no effect Guardians, it still doesn't mean you should eat them.

79\. We're not sure what you saw in that time conflux in the Black Garden that has you so bothered but it's best to focus on _this_ timeline than to try correcting the other timelines. That path possibly leads to where you might never find your way back from.

80\. Cloning technology is illegal for several good reasons and the universe could only take so much of you at any given time.


	38. A Grimm Situation

AN:

Here it is: part one of the final battle for Remnant. Get hyped bois!

00000

Chapter 38

Salem knew what the Vex wished to attain on Remnant and as much as she despised this pitiful world and its denizens, she must not let them reach their goal or it will bring about her downfall as well. That old foolish Wizard did sacrifice himself to keep the artifact from falling into the wrong hands (namely hers) and sealed it away with the last of his powers after all.

With the many safeguards and locks that Monty Oum had placed on himself, Salem needed the power of the Four Maidens and the relic in Ozpin's possession to reach the artifact, which was why she needed Cinder Falls to be the Fall Maiden but the Vex had proven that they didn't need any of those when they effortlessly broke the tomb in a short period of time.

It pained the Grimm Witch to admit it but her nemesis, the White Rose was correct. The Vex was the more dangerous threat and they needed to be dealt with poste haste.

Salem couldn't help the twinge that resembled amusement blossoming in her chest. It was a twisted sense of irony that the fate of the world rested in her hands and for once, she wasn't trying to raze it to the ground but save it.

But her children were only delaying the Vex. If Salem didn't do anything soon to shift the tides, then all will be lost. She couldn't trust her human pawns to do this since they were preoccupied so it would have to be dealt with _personally._

The black robes that covered her body dispersed into black mist, exposing her pale and veiny flesh to the world before the bug-shaped ring on her right index finger began to glow. Tar-like substance flowed from the ring and slowly covered her entire right arm but it didn't stop there as it spread to the rest of her body until it wrapped around her from head to toe.

Skeletal plates with red tribal eye designs emerged from the black substance around her torso, hands, forearms and shins and they formed into rudimentary armour that protected those parts of her body from harm much like the same armour that her children bore. To complete the look, a mask resembling the human skull was molded on her face and her white hair poured out behind her until it reached her ankles, giving it a cape-like appearance while six sharp black horns protruded from the back of her head, reminiscent to a crown.

Her transformation was complete.

Salem raised her hand and flexed her fingers. They too had changed for they were now long claws that were sharp enough to tear through any matter of armour. She was also much stronger and faster in this form. In spite of her lithe appearance, she could now endure almost any punishment and then quickly heal from the ones that managed to truly wound her.

The Grimm Witch had not used this form in over a decade back when the White Rose first challenged her and it would serve its purpose now as well.

Salem bent down in a crouch to gather strength before leaping tremendously high into the air, leaving a crater where she previously stood. Once she reached the apex of her ascent, one of her eldest children capable of flight swooped in and caught her upon its back. With a simple mental command from Salem, the massive Grimm that the humans called a Nevermore flew its mistress to the island where the four Kingdoms first declared their fragile peace as the rest of its brethen followed shortly after.

The Vex will learn that Salem was not one to be crossed with.

Upon the back of her creation, it didn't take long for Salem to arrive at the island that held much more history than humankind was aware of. The Vex immediately set their sights on her and her children the moment they arrived and the cyborgs wasted no time to fire upon the other race of Darkness.

Her mount was one of the first to die as it took the brunt of a purple energy bolt, detonating in its face. As it died, Salem absorbed its essence for her own and two protrusions bursted out of her back revealing themselves to be pitch black wings like the ones that her winged children possessed.

Falling through the air, Salem curled her newly formed wings around her to quicken her descent and to make her a smaller target. She twirled through the air before spreading her wings out to abruptly stop her fall and she began to soar over the Vex as her children tore into the cyborgs' frontlline.

Her wings were akin to the most honed blades of Huntsmen as they effortlessly sliced through waves of Vex. The only ones that could withstand her razor sharp appendages were the Minotaurs but her claws were not just for show as it rendered heavy infantry unit into scrap.

Salem raised her wings in front of her to act as a shield from the numerous plasma bolts heading towards her. Unlike her children, her wings were actually capable of withstanding a direct hit from the Vex's weapons but they could not last for long under such heavy fire. Eventually, her wings reached their limit and quickly fell apart but they still had some use left as she grabbed handfuls of the jet black feathers and threw them at a group of Goblins, skewering them in multiple places.

Nearby, the Grimm Witch sensed one of her boar-shaped children perish. Reaching out towards the Boarbatusk, she absorbed its essence and an additional layer of armour appeared on her back. She rolled into a ball and started to spin forward along her spine. She charged into Vex after Vex, smashing them into pieces until a Minotaur materialzed in her path and gave her spinning form a mighty backhand.

The extra layer of armour on her back shattered into pieces as she was sent flying only to be caught by a Beringuel. Not waiting for it to die, she took the gorilla-shaped Grimm's essence for her own and fell to her knees with no visible changes to her form. The same Minotaur that knocked her back materialized next to her and attempted to punch her but she easily caught it, creating a shockwave that broke the ground. Cracking her neck, Salem pulled back her other fist and punched the Minotaur, shattering it in one blow.

Humans were not the only ones that could be resourceful.

Feeling her temporary augmented strength leave her, Salem let out a vicious smile from under her mask. It had been so long since she had felt the thrill of battle. To feel your enemies crumble beneath you and watch the light fade from their eyes. Not since Summer Rose, did she ever had such stimulation. It almost made Salem regret the White Rose's death but necessity won out in the end.

The Vex didn't give her the same ecstasy as slaughtering humans did but she was going to enjoy every moment as she vanquished every last cyborg.

00000

The trip to the island of Vytal was quick and yet very uncomfortable. The inside of the Cloud Errant may have been bigger than what the exterior would suggest but it was still designed for one person, two at most to be comfortable. With four fully grown people cramped together, it was not a pleasant situation to be in.

At least for the three passengers since they were forced to hold onto the walls while the one piloting the jumpship sat snugly in the only chair. It didn't help that Summer did flips and barrel rolls manuevers just for the sake of annoying the Branwen twins.

The Guardian still hadn't forgiven Qrow for talking smack about her piloting skills and Raven became her most hated nemesis when the masked woman told her that she preferred raisin cookies over chocolate chip cookies _(that monster!)_. Taiyang Xiao Long was just an unfortunate casualty in the Hunter's vengeance.

They also couldn't do a thing to her since she was the only one capable of piloting the ship.

Taking pity on the Xiao Long patriarch, Summer eventually decided to stop torturing the Branwen twins and made straight for Vytal. She had her Ghost find a good spot that's far away from Vex surveillance and yet close enough to drop off Team STRQ near their destination.

"Sweet merciful ground!" Taiyang rejoiced as he laid down on solid earth, more than glad to be off the ship. Watching her former lover kissing the ground, the Guardian wanted to say that the Branwen twins were more dignified than the old yellow dragon but she would have been lying.

Qrow was bent over with his hand pressed against a tree, expelling the contents of his stomach while Raven tore her mask off and did the same. Even though they have long been estranged, they still shared a synchronization that most twins were borned with as shown when they threw their guts out in the same manner and at the exact same time, notwithstanding the fraction of a second that it took for Raven to remove her mask.

"I swear to god that you're five years old," the black haired woman glared at the Guardian with utmost loathing after wiping the trace bits of vomit from her mouth.

"Seven and a half years old actually," Summer corrected absentmindedly as she pulled out Patience and Time to survey the area. Team STRQ was set down on a particularly high vantage point.

"Seven and a half?" Raven repeated vacantly before her eyes widened at what her leader said when the words finally sunk in, "Seven and a half!?"

The red eyed woman wasn't the only one who was surprised as the other two members of Team STRQ incrudelously stared at the reddish black haired Guardian. Suddenly, her lack of knowledge about the inner workings of sex finally made sense but they still had a few questions as why Summer said she was around seven years old.

"Guardians don't count the age that they had in their past lives because they hardly have any memory of them," the Ghost deemed it appropriate to explain as he spoke through their earsets, "The same goes for the time that they spent dead since it's difficult to discern how long that time period was especially when only bones remained."

"So that means Summer spent over two years rotting until you found her and brought her back to life," Qrow surmised before washing out the taste of puke with his most favorite drink in the world: booze.

"And she spent the next years as a so-called Guardian," Raven concluded as she placed the Nevermore mask back over her face, "Thus making her by your standards, seven years old."

" _And making Taiyang here a pedophile if he tries to make a move on Summer,"_ the scythe-master added in his head as he spared the shellshocked man in question a glance.

"It also doesn't help that she has the mental maturity of one," Drei rolled his lone eye, "If it wasn't for her many accomplishments over the years, then no one would have taken her seriously."

Taiyang wanted to ask what Summer accomplished during her time away from Remnant but Summer interrupted their line of thought with a report.

"I can see the Vex spire up ahead," the Guardian informed them as she zoomed in on the massive Vex structure, "Whatever they're here for must be pretty important with the forces they have stationed here."

"What are we up against?" Taiyang inquired as he switched to explosive rounds for his dual-ranged shotgun. From what Summer had told them of, the Vex preferred to keep their distance and his standard shotgun shells just weren't going to cut it so the added range and power of his explosive rounds were the most suited against the Vex.

"Let's see…there's the standard Goblin and Hobgoblin units with dozens of Minotaurs," she began to list down before letting out a low whistle, "And several Cyclopes posted around the perimeter. Damn, they're not messing around."

"Oh," a certain scene caught her eye, "It looks like we're not the only ones here to fight the Vex."

Peering through Patience and Time's scope, Summer watched the many creatures of Grimm tear into the ranks of Goblins and Minotaurs before they were cut down by Solar and Void bolts. The Grimm would have been a disadvantage but they made it up by dozens of times more numerous than the Vex that were here.

"I didn't think there's enough space on this island for this many Grimm to show but this could actually be used to our advantage if we play our cards right," Summer noted to herself before something else caught her attention, "Is that a…Grimm? I didn't know there were human shaped ones."

The Branwen twins froze at what the Guardian said. They both knew that there was only _one_ human shaped Grimm in existence and her presence was definitely not a good thing for anyone.

"Salem," Qrow muttered under his breath as he reflexively reached for his recently-repaired scythe.

"Who's Salem?" Summer asked, pulling her gaze away from the battle occurring below. From a trained warrior's perspective (namely hers), the Grimm and the Vex were locked in a stalemate that only needed one more push to shift the scale to either side.

The dusty old crow was not sure if he should tell his leader who Salem was since he didn't know how Summer would react. Unfortunately for him, his twin sister saw it fit to inform the Guardian to Salem's identity while he was still busy mulling it over.

"We suspect that Salem's the one controlling the Grimm and maybe even created them," Raven said, focusing on the young Hunter's face to see how she would take this new information, "She's also the one that killed you."

Taiyang and Qrow tensed at that last statement, although for different reasons. Taiyang was beyond furious to learn the identity of the one responsible for Summer's death and he was ready to pay this 'Salem' back in kind. Qrow, on the other hand, was pissed at his sister for handling such a delicate situation so bluntly. That was supposed to be his thing!

Summer for her part, simply said nothing but peered through the scope of her sniper rifle once more to observe her supposed murderer. She gave no clear indication of reacting to this revelation and one who was not familiar with her would assume that she was indifferent to it but it was far from the case.

The Guardian had an idea on how she died from all the nightmares that she had about the Grimm but she had assumed that it was just another case of someone finally running out of luck before their demise. As it turned out though, her life was never so simple even before her induction into the ranks of Guardians.

Finger now resting on the trigger of her gun, Summer watched this Salem character plunge her claws into a Minotaur's chest before spreading her arms wide, ripping the Vex heavy unit in half. The human-like Grimm spun on her heel and cleaved a Goblin into two. She grabbed the remains of the Minotaur that she had killed earlier and used its dead body to block a round from a Hobgoblin before hurling it towards the sniper. The body was thrown so hard that it pulverised any caught in its path before it finally smashed into its target so violently.

From her perch, the young Hunter could tell that this Salem was very dangerous but sheer amount of Vex was beginning to overwhelm the Grimm Witch. A small lapse in attention could mean the death of this being of Darkness. Like a high caliber round from a sniper rifle that was designed to hunt and kill beings several magnitudes more dangerous than the Grimm.

The distance between her and the target was great but it was still a shot that she could make. It was only a matter of if she _should_ take the shot and potentially eliminate a threat that had plagued Remnant for decades, possibly centuries.

Then there was the fact that this was personal.

Summer wasn't mad at Salem for killing her. No, she had learned to accept her first death for a long time now so she held no grudges for being killed by the Grimm Witch. What the Guardian was actually mad at Salem for was that she took away a loving mother from the two sweet girls she had come to care for.

But this Salem was doing her best to stop the Vex. Her intentions may not be pure but Remnant needed all of the help that they could get.

Was revenge really worth more than the fate of her former homeworld?

Making her decision, Summer cocked PT, set her sights and squeezed the trigger. In an instant, the bullet burrowed into the torso of her target, making it explode with its life fluid splashing out everywhere. It wasn't long after till it was upon by the enemy, reducing any chance of survival to zero.

There were a lot of things that she came to regret in her life. Hopefully, this won't be one of them.

00000

Well, that was an anti-climatic end for the main villain of RWBY. Or was it?


	39. Guardians Can Be Quite Vexing At Times

AN:

I have taken some liberties over Salem's abilities since they have yet to be properly shown in the show but I figured they fit her pretty well.

00000

Chapter 39

Over thirty strong Guardians gathered in front of a giant metallic arch. The metal structure was wide and tall enough for a standard-sized jumpship to fit and a wall of swirling blue energy was at its center. This was the Gateway, a portal capable of crossing solar systems and it was the Guardians' ticket to reach the forgotten colony known as Remnant.

One specific Guardian, Lux Sylphid couldn't help but notice that the Gateway looked eerily similar to a Vex Transfer Gate, something that she and the rest of Fireteam Nero had plenty of experience with in the Vault of Glass. Of course, the Gateway had no Vex technology incorporated into its structure since it would be too risky to use. It looked more like the creators attempted to copy the Vex Transfer Gates with modified transmat protocols. Considering its purpose, they succeeded.

That was Golden Age technology for you. Coming up with innovation after innovation. It was no wonder New Monarchy wanted to revive that era so badly.

Lux took a deep drag from her cigarette as she leaned against her sparrow, an EV-37 Voidstreak. She let out a cloud of smoke and she flicked the cancer stick away. It didn't get far before the Warlock incinerated it completely with a simple application of her Solar abilities. Materializing Seraph II over her head, the Awoken slid her leg over the sparrow and mounted it with experienced ease.

The Warlock started the engines and positioned herself behind a Cabal Interceptor that was being driven by none other than her teammate, Prometheus-23.

In the frontlines were the Rams and Interceptors. Since they were the most heavily armoured and had the biggest guns, those vehicles were the most suited to act as a kind of battering ram to clear the way for the rest of them.

The Sparrows were in the middle, guarded by Fallen Pikes in the rear. A standard Guardian Sparrow was designed for speed and mobility, which would have been a boon in most operations but the area that they were going to would be heavily saturated with hostiles, increasing chances of collision. A collision whilst riding the light transportation would be disastrous, not only for the rider in question but for their whole position.

The Pikes were stationed at the back in case the enemy would chase after them and they also couldn't take the same amount of damage as the Rams and Interceptors but they were more durable than the Sparrows.

This was the ground forces of the Guardians. While the Hive Dreadnaught and the fleet of Dead Orbit under Commander Zavala's command waged a space naval battle against the Vex and the Cabal, they were to be the first to step foot on Remnant.

"Lux," Prometheus-23 called out to the Warlock as he turned his head to face her, "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied as she and the other Guardians revved their vehicles.

"Alright, Guardians, I'll save the speech for later," Cayde-6 called out to the assembled ground force as he got on his own Sparrow, "We got a planet to save."

With nothing left to say, the warriors of Light raced off into the Gateway and arrived to the forgotten world of Remnant.

Reinforcements have arrived.

00000

"Well, that was fucking anti-climatic," Qrow Branwen said as Team STRQ watched body of the Grimm Witch, Salem fall lifelessly to the ground before it was beset upon by the Vex, "From all the stories that I heard about her, I figured it would take more than a bullet to kill her."

"But good riddance," Taiyang scoffed venomously as he crossed his arms, "Remnant's better off without something like that running around."

"It also doesn't seem very sporting," Raven added her two lien in as she crouched next to her leader, "I thought you would have wanted to confront Salem head-on as you were wont to do back then."

"And it was probably the reason why this Salem managed to kill me in the past," Summer retorted bluntly as she continued to observe the corpse of the ancient Grimm Witch, "Besides, I was just testing a theory. Now seemed like the perfect time to do it."

"A theory? What theo-" Raven's inquiry was interrupted when an earpiercing bestial roar echoed across the island, making everyone except the Guardian shiver in instinctual fear.

The rest of Team STRQ couldn't see it due to their position but Summer definitely could with the aid of the exotic sniper rifle, Patience and Time. Over a dozen Grimm was forcibly turned to clouds of Darkness before it flowed towards where Salem fell. The Vex surrounding the body of the Grimm Witch was sent flying by a blast of black energy, revealing Salem herself in near pristine condition.

One wouldn't have guessed that this being only just moments before received a very fatal injury to the chest but Summer and her Ghost had seen many other cases like that.

While Salem was fighting, the Hunter noticed that she had the ability to absorb any nearby Grimm and not only took on its properties but also healed her own wounds at the same time. The Guardian wanted to see what was the extent of Salem's regenerative abilities and if it could heal the Grimm Witch heal from grievous wounds like a sniper round to the chest so she took the shot.

Other than rendering any chance of an alliance to pieces, Summer really had nothing to lose. If Salem hadn't survived and was killed by her experiment, then Remnant had one less threat to worry about. If it hadn't worked, then the Guardian would have learned some valuable information on this elusive Grimm Witch. Every bit of intel could go a long way in a war. It was no doubt a win-win situation in that case.

It was good to know that Salem required a lot of Grimm to absorb to recover from an attack like that and that the act of healing herself seemed to have caused some serious strain to her, judging from her shaky gait. It helped that her weapons were still capable of hurting if not outright killing the Grimm Witch. Then there was the fact that Salem looked like she had no idea who her attacker was or where the shot came from. That gave Summer an idea on how to take the Grimm Witch down for good in the future when, not if, their next encounter occurred.

But that could wait. Team STRQ had bigger fishes to fry.

"Team STRQ, commence the attack on the eastern end while I provide you with cover fire," Summer told them as she cocked her sniper rifle and shot a Vex this time.

The Grimm were attacking the Vex from the western end of the island and the Guardian would very much prefer they avoid crossing paths with them especially since she shot their master. They may have been fighting against the same enemy but Summer didn't trust the Grimm or Salem for that matter to not turn on them while their back was turned. The Grimm and Salem were just too unfamiliar to her unlike the other races of Darkness like the Eliksni for example.

Even though a majority of them were pirates and mercenaries, the Eliksni still had some sense of honour that let Summer fight alongside them for a time. It was how she was able to briefly fight alongside the House of Devils when the Taken invaded the Comsodrome while she was looking for Cayde-6's stash. And when the Eliksni do turn on you, they at least had the courtesy to do it to your face.

"Sure thing, boss," Taiyang grinned as he cracked his knuckles before he stepped off the cliffside. He slid down the side of the cliffside before launching himself high above the assembled Vex below.

Aiming his shotgun gauntlets behind him, the blonde haired man shot himself towards the ground at a much greater speed than what terminal velocity could have done. His fist slammed into the ground with so much power that it literally shattered the earth beneath him, crushing multitudes of Vex with the upturned soil.

Standing up from the huge crater, Taiyang didn't remain idle and he quickly shot off to deliver a crushing left hook to a Hobgoblin, shattering it into pieces before it could get a bead on him. Spinning on his heel and letting off a burst of buckshot, he elbowed a Goblin, caving in its torso where its white core was kept.

A Minotaur materialized behind him, ready to give the brawler a devastating blow but a sniper round buried into one of its eyes, staggering it. Taiyang spun around and uppercutted the bulky Vex so hard that its upper body was separated from its lower. Another sniper shot impacted the airborne half, finishing it off.

Grinning from the thrill of battle, Tai gave a thumbs-up in his former lover's direction and he then launched a volley of explosive rounds into the Vex before him.

The way the old yellow dragon fought reminded Summer of her teammate, Prometheus-23. He didn't share the same level of raw power that the Exo Titan had but it was still close enough to cause some serious damage to the enemy.

"I suppose that is something we can work with. It's also a welcome change that you can actually hit a target with a gun now," Raven stated as she unsheathed her nodachi in a flash, cutting a hole through time and space before stepping into the portal.

Another portal opened up next to a group of Goblins and a black blur weaved in between the Vex with some flashes of red to accompany it. The masked woman reappeared behind the Vex as she slowly sheathed her sword with a resounding click, allowing the cyborgs to abruptly be bisected.

Dozens of Goblins materialized and fired a barrage of plasma bolts at the Iaido master. Unperturbed, Raven quickly drew her blade and slashed a portal in front of her to shield herself from the hail of energy bolts. She then proceeded to slice the portal, causing it to separate into numerous smaller portals that surrounded her form. After sheathing her nodachi, the plasma bolt that the previous portal had absorbed came shooting out of the smaller portals, peppering the Vex with their own attacks.

A high caliber bullet suddenly whizzed past Raven's head and entered one of the portals. The bullet then came out of the portal by her left to knock a Minotaur's aim off course, making the explosive Void bolt detonate in the middle of a swarm of Harpies. Not letting the heavy infantry unit have the chance to recover, she swiped her weapon at the portals around her, absorbing their energy into the blade before she sent out an Aura-imbued sonic wave, clearing out a significant portion of the Vex including the Minotaur that tried to shoot at her.

Raven twirled the red nodachi in her hands and settled for a traditional two-handed Japanese sword style before leaping forward to slice any nearby Vex in half.

"I know this is a temporary thing but it's good to have the team back together again," Qrow Branwen said in a wistful tone as he took one long drink from his flask. Putting the flask away, he grabbed the hilt of his weapon and squeezed one of the triggers, making the blade extend to its full length. He pulled the weapon out of its holster and tossed it into the air where it impaled a Harpy that got too close.

The ground beneath his dress shoes cracked as he hurled himself towards where the Harpy with his blade stuck in it was going to fall. The alcoholic Huntsman smoothly ripped his weapon out of the Vex unit as he shifted it into its scythe form. He swiped the air several times, destroying handfuls of Harpies with each swing.

Positioning the scythe head behind him, he propelled himself faster with the gun attachment's recoil and landed feet first on a Minotaur, knocking it flat on its back. With the force of his fall and the recoil of his weapon, the bulky cyborg skidded across the ground as an impromptu bulldozer while Qrow rode atop it like a skateboard before it eventually slid to a stop.

The dusty old crow jumped off the Minotaur and cleaved many Vex units into two with his large scythe. For those with particularly stronger armour, he would empower his swing with a burst from the shotgun, using its recoil to add the extra strength needed to cut through its thick plate.

Qrow spun the scythe in his hands so fast that it resembled more like a white disc than a weapon. He then proceeded to throw the spinning weapon, slicing scores of Goblins and Hobgoblins in half before its curved blade lodged itself in a Minotaur. The impaled Vex was still somewhat functional so it remained standing.

He took a running start to retrieve his weapon before taking on the appearance of a crow with his semblance, his smaller form easily weaving in between enemy fire. Moments before he could reached his scythe, a bullet whooshed past him and hit his scythe in such a way that not only did it kill the Minotaur but also dislodged the scythe from its body. The scythe spun through the air while cutting an unfortunate Harpy in half for about a second before he assumed his original form and caught the weapon to begin his onslaught anew.

"Okay, now you're just showing off," the scythe-master muttered into the earpiece as he rushed at the Vex, looking like nothing more than a blur to the untrained eye.

"Less talking and more killing," Summer admonished as she methodically removed the empty magazine and slapped in a new one before counter-sniping a Hobgoblin that managed to track her shots to her location. The gun rang out several more times, each shot downing a Vex for good.

Make that several Hobgoblins that managed to gauge her general location through Patience and Time's camouflage systems but they were still having difficulties finding her exact position, which was why PT was the perfect weapon for assassinations.

From what she read up about Team STRQ, they were composed of members that specialized in close to mid ranged combat team since they all lacked proper long-ranged weapons back then. But now, Summer had all the necessary skills and knowledge on how to utilize firearms to be considered an expert marksman.

Summer may not be on the same level as Lux Sylphid and Cayde-6 but she was still one of the best marksmen in the Tower as proven when she quickly dispatched several Minotaurs before they realized what hit them.

Drei also did his own part to contribute to the battle by dropping down ammo crates to restock Team STRQ on their bullets while Summer kept it under guard. With the aid of Raven's portal manipulation, they could jump back to their established safe zone to rest and reload before jumping back into the fray.

"Summer, one those Cyclopes got me pinned down!" Taiyang yelled into the earpiece with the cacophony of energy blasts in the background as she swiftly spotted him, "Gonna need some help!"

The blonde man managed to take shelter from the Cyclops' onslaught by hiding in one of the deep craters that he made but he would soon be literally covered by his knees with Vex from how the infantry unit swarmed towards his makeshift trench.

"Raven, get him out of there and steer clear from the Cyclops," Summer ordered as she slung PT behind her back, "I don't want you guys to get caught within the blast while I deal with it. Also, close your eyes for a bit."

Ignoring their inquiries, the Guardian reached into the power of Solar and errupted into flames with the Golden Gjallahorn rested on her shoulder. Her free hand took out a couple of fire Dust crystals and crushed them into powder to absorb the energies within to strengthen the Hunter's manifestation of the sun.

Her preparations complete, Summer squeezed the trigger and she closed her eyes to not get blinded by her own attack. In a blast of pure energy, the Cyclops and the Vex surrounding it were disintergrated on a molecular level, leaving naught but a massive crater of scorched earth. Even from her perch, the aftermath of her Solar attack dwarfed whatever damage the rest of her team and the Grimm could do.

Too bad that the Golden Gjallahorn not only took a lot of power out of her but it also revealed her location to both the Vex and the Grimm. Oh well, that just meant there was no longer a need for subtlety.

The flames of the Golden Gjallahorn dispersed as the Guardian pulled out the actual Gjallahorn itself and placed it on her shoulder. Squeezing the trigger, another explosion followed by smaller clusters rang out on the battlefield, clearing out swaths of Vex. With Drei dropping down heavy ammo crates through the transmat on the Cloud Errant, she could keep up the assault with the Gjallahorn until she accumulated enough Light to perform the Golden Gjallahorn again.

Even though she could immediately use it again by absorbing another fire Dust crystal, Team STRQ still needed that to blow the Vex spire sky high.

00000

Contrarily to what they initially believed, the Guardians and the Redjacks weren't immediately besieged by enemy forces the moment they rushed past the portal. It actually took about five minutes before they encountered their first opposition in the form of Grimm and Vex in the middle of conflict.

It also took significantly less than five seconds to completely wipe out both races of Darkness along with the surrounding area, leaving a barren wasteland in their path.

Lord Shaxx got really enthusiastic with the explosives and no one really had the courage to tell the old Titan to tone it down before there was nothing left to destroy.

"Team A, you head over to Anima. Defend any village you come across before you rendezvous at the capital city to set up a transmat zone," Cayde ordered as six Guardians and a hundred Redjacks split off from the main group to head towards the east, "The squad leader will be Guardian Bruce Willis."

"Team B, you go to Solitas to reinforce Atlas' defences. Squad leader will be Leone-8 and don't forget that transmat zone."

Six more Guardians and a hundred Redjacks split off from the main group and headed towards the north.

"Team C, you go over to Menagerie but forgo the Redjacks. They might mistake you for Atlesian military and ties has been less than friendly with them. Squad leader will be Jane Jameson."

Six more Guardians split off and headed towards the southeast.

"Team D and E, we'll be heading towards Sanus before Team E split up with us and head over to Vacuo while Team D goes towards Vale. I'll be in charge of Team D and Lord Shaxx will be in charge of Team E."

There were a lot of things on the data packet that the Exo Stranger gave Cayde, including a recent map and the current geo-political situation of Remnant. It was fortunate that they upgraded the anti-grav systems on their vehicles so they would be able to travel across large bodies of water.

"Fireteam Nero and two other guy whose names I don't care to remember will be coming with me," the Hunter Vanguard announced his team while the rest of Team E felt their blood drain when they realized who they'll be fighting alongside with, "As for the rest of you, good luck. You'll need it."

"Hmph, as if I need something paltry such as luck," the Crucible Handler scoffed as his Ram ran over a fleeing Beowolf.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the poor saps who are gonna be stuck with you," the Exo Hunter corrected as he smoothly weaved around a cluster of Goblins while slicing them in half with his knife, "Word of advice, fellas, don't slow Shaxx here down. Not unless you don't value your lives."

Cayde was sixty percent sure that the other Guardians in Team E were going to die by Shaxx's hand if they don't meet his rather absurdly high standards. But if those Guardians did survive under the Crucible Handler's command, then they'll come out stronger from it.

He wasn't going to keep his finger crossed though.

00000

AN:

How many of you thought Summer just shot a nearby Vex that was about to attack Salem from behind? I bet you all thought I was going for the cliched "team up with the baddie to fight the bigger baddie" by doing the classic "shoot someone about to attack the other from behind" but no, I wasn't going down the way you thought it would.


	40. Darkness Fills the Skies

Chapter 40

Team RWBY was in deep trouble.

Not the same trouble where they got caught sneaking out past curfew by Glynda Goodwitch or where Professor Port surprised the class with a pop quiz about his latest story. No, this was the kind of trouble that was a matter of life or death.

Like being trapped in a mad scientist's lab on a remote island while being surrounded by roided up Grimm for example.

It was a wonder how the first year team went from repairing security network control centers to this.

Well, it all spiraled down from there when Ruby, in a moment of brilliance that she rarely showed outside of battle, decided to ask her mother's Ghost, Drei to track the rogue broadcast signal that reprogammed the control centers. Thinking nothing of it, the Little Light ("Please don't call me that, Ms. Rose") quickly found the source of the signal and had marked the location on their map.

The all girls team now had their objective.

The smart thing to do in that situation was to inform the authorities like their professors of what they had discovered and leave the rest to them. But they decided to deal with the problem themselves as they were prone to do this semester since the kingdoms already had their hands full with both Vex and Grimm attacks.

Tom Brown, the technician that Team RWBY was assigned to protect, also happened to be their pilot. With the help of persuasion and reason (the names of Yang Xiao Long's right and left fist respectively), they managed to convince him to take them straight to the island where the captured Grimm were being taken to.

From what that remote island had in store for them, they should have informed the professors instead of going off on their own again.

The facility that they found on the island didn't really look that special and it could have been easily missed if one didn't know that the building was there to begin with. But the insides of the facility was another story entirely.

The halls were in various states of disrepair. The broken lights flickered on and off at random intervals. Unintelligible whispers could be heard through the crackling PA systems of the compound. Out of the corners of their eyes, they saw the briefest instance of movement but not even with their radars or Blake's natural night vision, could they spot the source of it. It was like the first year team had jumped right into a scene straight out of a horror film.

With the exception of Blake Belladonna, the members of Team RWBY were completely terrified of scary movies so they clutched onto the lone faunus girl like a limpet. Of course, Yang and Weiss were too prideful to admit that they were scared but after an image of a figure with glowing red eyes briefly appeared on one of the screens while a loud screech rang out, they broke down pretty quickly and would have rushed right out of the doors then and there if it wasn't for four things.

One, they had a mission to accomplish and even though little Ruby was scared out of her wits just as much as the Schnee heiress and her older half-sister, she pressed herself and her teammates on regardless.

Two, the moment they stepped inside the compound, the exits were locked down with heavily reinforced doors that not even Yang had hope of ever breaking through without absorbing several tons of kinetic energy to augment her strength first.

Three, they lost all contact with Tom after that little jumpscare. No matter how many times they tried to hail him, there was no response. It was really starting to sound like Team RWBY was stuck in a horror film.

And last but definitely not the least.

Four, they were not alone.

Weiss had attempted to access one of the still intact terminals to learn the purpose of this facility as well as find out what happened to cause the place to end up in this state when a security mech suddenly appeared behind them and tried disintergrate the Schnee heiress.

The Dust specialist of the team rolled out of the way, letting the terminal that she tried to access be blown up instead while the rest of the team turned around and shot the android at the same time, rendering it into scrap metal.

The mech didn't look like the standard line of androids from the SDC. It had received extensive modifications and extra parts to set it apart from its Atlesian Knights counterpart. However, even with its unique design, the Huntresses in training still managed to recognize it.

"Um, guys, is it just me or does that robot kinda look like a Vex?" Ruby nervously questioned as she and the rest of Team RWBY stared at the wrecked android on the floor.

Laying out on the ground was an android that looked like the result of someone trying to hybridize Atlesian technology with the Vex and somewhat succeeded in the process. And at the center of its chest was a very familiar white core that many Vex units had.

The android twitched and Weiss let out a shrill shriek before stabbing Myrtenaster into its core, killing it for good. Summer Rose had told the girls enough stories of Guardians being taken off guard by a seemingly inactive Vex unit only for it to ambush them from behind.

Yang had jokingly compared the Vex to space zombies with guns until the grin was immediately wiped after the elder Rose told them that there _were_ already space zombies with guns running around. Zombies were scary enough as it was but alien zombies was a different story altogether.

"What the heck is going on here?" Yang voiced the question that was on everyone's minds.

"I suppose that's what we're here to find out," Blake said, lowering her weapon but not her guard, "Did you get anything useful from the terminal, Weiss?"

"Most of the data is corrupted but there are some intact audio files," Weiss browsed through her scroll in her hand while the other clenched tightly around her rapier, "I can look through them to see what happened here if you want."

"Alright, do it," Ruby commanded in a resolute tone, looking the leader that she was supposed to be.

"-Never in all my life did I imagine that extraterrestial existed out there. I assumed it was nothing more than the dreams of dullards but the irrefutable proof had revealed its existence to all of Remnant! I was not a believer then but I am now-"

"-Extraordinary! The Vex are linked to one another by a network to fulfill a singular that I cannot even begin to comprehend. In a matter of days, the Vex had constructed massive structures when it would take humankind decades if not centuries to do the same. Not only that, they are pushing mankind to the edge far faster than the Grimm had ever done to us in the past. I had thought the creatures of the Grimm were the pinnacle of nature but these beings of cold logic encased in metal had proven me wrong-"

"-That fool, Ozpin and his cohorts fail to see the magnificence that the Grimm and the Vex could show us but I'll prove them wrong. Hahahahaha, I will show them ALL!"

There were more audio files after that but they became more and more corrupted and garbled as time went on. Team RWBY was practically an audience to a man falling past the brink of madness.

A man that had been experimenting on both the Grimm and the Vex.

00000

Another explosion resounded across the battlefield that was the island of Vytal as a bright and all-encompassing light consumed a Cyclops unit along with every Vex unit next to it. The Golden Gjallahorn dispersed into flickering embers as Summer Rose gazed over the field.

Despite being signficantly less than the Grimm attacking the Vex, the members of Team STRQ had definitely held their own and was even pushing the alien cyborgs back with the aid of the Guardian. The humans also left some Cyclopes intact since those were keeping the Grimm (and consequentially, Salem too) at bay.

"It's almost time," she said to herself before she leapt off the cliff. She took out several knives, three in each hand and she then hurled them in different directions. Each blade hit its mark as six Harpies fell out of the sky with the hilt of a knife protruding from their shattered optics.

The Guardian snatched the dead remains of the Harpies before they could explode and then used them as projectiles against their fellow Vex, destroying handfuls of Goblins and staggering a Minotaur. Summer put her hand by her side as she pulled out a different weapon from Drei's databanks.

In her left hand was Wilt and Blush, the weapon that she had taken from the deceased Adam Taurus. Her index finger squeezed the trigger, launching the chokuto held within and boosting the speed and power of her quickdraw.

Summer appeared behind the Minotaur with Wilt outstretched. She twirled the chokuto into a reverse grip before sliding it back into the rifle-sheath with a resounding click. The Minotaur split into two as the halves were slowly disintergrating into black rose petals.

It was about time that she used Wilt and Blush in battle.

"Not bad," Raven remarked as she teleported next to her and idly sliced a Harpy out of the air, "Other than a few adjustments to your stance, your technique could be considered impressive."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Summer smirked from under her helmet as more Vex units materialized around them. She flicked the blade open from its sheath with her thumb as three Goblins aimed their Slap Rifles at her only for the Guardian to dash past them, bypassing them and their shots completely. Now behind them, she slowly sheathed Wilt and the top halves of those three Vex units slid off from their bodies before exploding.

The female Branwen twin's eyes widened in surprise. She could barely keep track of Summer's movements and she would have been caught off guard if she was the target of that strike instead.

Not wasting time, Summer dashed to the right, slicing one Vex quickly. She dashed again at two others to the left before cutting one down while delivering a roundhouse kick to the other. This made her back face the Vex, a fact that they tried to take advantage of. Keyword: _tried_.

The Guardian threw Blush behind her back with such great force that it impaled a Goblin and sent it hurtling towards Raven. Turning around, she rushed towards the Vex, slicing three Goblins and intercepting one Harpy. Tilting her head to the left to avoid a particle jet from a Line Rifle, Summer unexpectedly threw Wilt backhanded to the Vex behind her where it spun around like a boomerang, shredding the alien cyborgs before landing back in the Guardian's hand.

Sprinting back, she grabbed onto the rifle-sheath still impaled in the Goblin that she threw it at and she then began squeezing the trigger, firing armour-piercing rounds designed to kill beings like the Vex at more hostiles. Once the magazine had run dry, she roughly pulled Blush out of the Vex and sliced it in half with Wilt for its trouble before sliding the chokuto back into its sheath. The spent magazine popped out and she slammed in a new one.

She had finally gotten around to modifying Blush. She had equipped the rifle-sheath hybrid with high end armour-piercing rounds while installing a MD-Reflex module to compensate for the slower weapon handling. She also added several other functions to improve its greatest capabilities, making both sword and rifle-sheath better than the original.

"Okay, now you're just showing off," Raven muttered, unknowingly repeating the words that her twin brother said to the Guardian. Absentmindedly, she swiped her nodachi, severing several Vex of their top halves.

"I kinda have to if I want to get the Gate Lord's attention," Summer shrugged in response as she squeezed the trigger, launching Wilt at a Goblin's face. She twirled Blush around so she was holding its barrel forward and shot down a couple of Vex. One of the bullets hit the chokuto by the blade, causing it to spin back towards her. Twirling Blush around, the Guardian caught the sword with the sheath at an angle.

She was definitely showing off.

A Gate Lord didn't really require a physical body like other Vex units. They typically existed in some sort of liminal state, which was stretched between multiple gates or terminals. They only inhabited a body when the need arose, which was what Summer and the rest of Team STRQ were trying to do here. Surely, a Guardian's presence would eventually force the Ultra-ranked Vex unit to appear.

"How did you get so good at Iaijutsu?" the masked woman inquired before she stopped in realization but not without opening a portal to redirect a Hobgoblin's shot back at it, "You were able to copy my techniques and stances while adapting it to your own when we fought that day."

"Yup, got it in one," Summer replied with a smirk from under Order's Mask as she smashed the butt of the sheath at a Vex trying to flank her, destroying its core in the process.

The Guardians had to be fast learners in the art of warfare or they would not last long out on the field. Summer herself was no exception as she couldn't even shoot a gun straight when she was first brought back to life. The young Hunter was not only forced to learn how to shoot properly but to also adopt several fighting styles, including hand-to-hand combat, knife techniques, stealth and many more.

Her swordsmanship was also one of the many things that she improved on by studying the sword techniques from other alien races like the Hive Knights and Fallen Captains before incorporating them into her roughly rebuilt fighting style making it fundamentally different from the original.

There were reasons why it was best for Guardians to keep their distance from sword wielding enemies.

In terms of skills and experience, the current Summer had the previous Summer beat. If it wasn't for her mentor, Cayde-6 and her teammates from Fireteam Nero, then she would not have been able to get this good so fast.

So when Summer finally got her very own gun-sword, she devoted much of free time that wasn't spent with her daughters to master the unorthodox weapon as quickly as possible while forgoing the basic necessities (for non-Guardians) like food or sleep that could distract her from her efforts.

The Guardian was about to draw Wilt once more for another lightning fast assault when every Vex in the vicinity suddenly stopped. Team STRQ also halted their attacks but mostly due to confusion than whatever reason the Vex had. Even the Grimm and their master, Salem ceased their actions to join in on the confusion.

"What's going on?" Taiyang asked as he warily stared at the still Minotaur that he was in the midst of fighting with.

"I'm not sure, Tai but I have a feeling that the Vex's Alpha has just decided to show its face," Qrow surmised as he was about to place his flask to his lips but stopped himself. Shaking his head, the scythe-master put the flask away. If the Gate Lord was just as dangerous as Drei had briefed them on, then he was going to need clear mental faculties to win this one.

The first Gate Lord that Summer fought did manage to kill her no less than five times before she was able to defeat it. Even with amnesia, his leader was no pushover and an enemy that was capable of killing her not once but _five_ _times_ was not to be underestimated. After all, the rest of them only had one life, thus did not have the benefit of resurrection like Summer did.

"If only it was that simple," Summer spoke as she clipped Wilt and Blush to her back and unsheathed Bolt-caster. Even with her recent mastery over Iaido, she was still a lot better with Bolt-caster than with Wilt and Blush.

In unison, the Vex turned to face the Warp Gate before they all knelt in apparent reverence with their heads bowed to show subservience. The actions of the Vex were so befuddling that even the Grimm were at loss on what to do.

But Summer had seen this reaction before and it did not bode well that there was another being capable of eliciting a reaction like this again, especially when she thought that they would fight a mere Gate Lord. This was certainly no mere Gate Lord.

That was when they all felt it.

The very air around them seemed to freeze in place as an overwhelming power came into being. The vastness of this power was so great that the feeble minds of the Grimm could not hope to comprehend it before it rendered their consciousnesses to nothing, killing the creatures of Darkness with its very presence alone. Only Salem and Team STRQ managed to remain standing against this tremendous manifestation. Even then, the Grimm Witch and the non-Guardians found themselves trembling uncontrollably from this being's might.

And it had yet to fully manifest a physical body.

There, from the very structure that they had sought to destroy, came the source of all of that power. It was as if space and time itself had collapsed to bring it to the physical plane as its chosen vessel began to form.

The Guardian gathered her Light in preparation for a very tough battle. She was no Warlock but even she could sense that this being was so powerful that it alone could wipe out everything on this planet if they didn't stop it here now.

The being that came through the Transfer Gate was absolutely massive with the tallest among them barely reaching its knees. Its pitched-black chassis had jagged spikes protruding from its head, shoulders and black as its crimson optical glared down on the interlopers with seeming contempt. It reached behind it and pulled out two weapons. It held a crystalline cannon that would not look out of place on a warship in one hand while the other hand wielded a giant broadsword that was half its height.

Summer was not sure how but her Ghost was able to put a name to this being. This _god_.

 **Nihileon, Time's End**

00000

To the guest reviewer who hoped the Gate Lord that Team STRQ would be fighting was Atheon: Sorry for putting not Atheon in this story but I hope that this instead would suffice.

It has been a long time coming but it was about time Summer put Wilt and Blush to use as their new wielder. For those of you wondering, here are the new perks of Wilt and Blush.

Wilt – _"The flowers of hate shall cease to be"_ :

Void damage

Two of a Kind – maximum efficiency when used in conjunction with Blush

Born by the Sword – kills with the sword temporarily increases movement speed

Quickdraw – this weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast

Warrior of Light – increased damage for your attack

Moonslice – use this to conjure walls of Void Light or charge to unleash a devastating cut to disintergrate foes

Blush – _"Take aim and you shall find liberation"_ :

Void damage

Two of a Kind – maximum efficiency when used in conjunction with Wilt

MD-Reflex – significantly improved handling

Armor Piercing Rounds – these iridium-core rounds overpenetrate targets. Their mass slows down weapon handling

Quickdraw – this weapon can be drawn unbelievably fast

Perfect Balance – this weapon has extremely low recoil

Iaido Stance – launches Wilt in a peerless quickdraw attack. Can be used to amplify Wilt's Moonslice. Consumes one round per use


	41. Darkness Clashes

AN:

I have been updating this story faster because I have a lot free time during the holidays and all of my favorite fanfics haven't been updating lately so I might be releasing another chapter sometime later this week but don't hold your breath.

Concerning Nihileon, he is an original Vex god of my own creation so don't bother looking him up on the Destiny wiki. His appearance is based off of Atheon's body with Qodron's colour scheme if you want a better picture of him.

00000

Chapter 41

Never before in all of her lifetime, did Salem ever feel so…small.

Not in the literal sense though. Many of Salem's children and a good number of humans were physically larger than her but size had never meant much for her, which was why she was quite small compared to her children even though she was by far one of the oldest beings on Remnant. No matter her size, she was always assured of her strength, of her power. That not even the Old Man and his four Maidens together could hope to defeat her, only stall.

Until now.

Salem stood stock still in the middle of the battlefield as her children were quickly dying off through the leader of the Vex's existence. She would have been enraged at the deaths of so many of her children but she found herself envying their sudden demise. At least they didn't have to suffer the full brunt of this monster's power.

It said a lot that a being like _her_ called another being monster.

Nihileon, for that was its name, took a single step, shaking the earth with its enormous weight. The tremor caused from its step was so strong that one could have mistaken it for an earthquake if they had the fortune of not seeing the Vex entity for themselves. It lowered its cannon and let out a volley so encompassing that if Salem's children were still alive, they would have been wiped out in an instant.

As the literal rain of death fell closer to the ground below, time seemed to slow down for the defenders of Remnant, which allowed them to consider their current predicament with a description other than ' _we're fucked'_.

An unknown sensation formed from the pit of her stomach and her legs were struggling to support her own weight as barrage seemingly blocked out the very sky itself. Salem stared down at her hands to see that they were quivering so hard that she was forced to clench them to fists to stop it. Even then, her fists refused to stay still. Then there was her instinct, every inch of it telling her, no- _roaring at her_ \- to flee from this _entity_ as fast as possible.

The Grimm Witch didn't know what this sensation was at first but she was able to soon recognize it for what it was since it was something that many humans, soul-wielders or not, went through before they were consumed by her children.

It was fear.

It would have stung her pride to admit to being afraid like a _mere_ whelp but pride meant nothing in the face of this overwhelming presence and that was exactly what she was, a whelp compared to this mechanical monstrosity.

No, even with the copious amount of energy bolts, all of them were focused on one target alone.

Summer Rose, the bane of Salem's existence and the one person that ever came close to killing her, was the primary target of Nihileon. The rest were simply bystanders, inconsequential in the inhuman thought process of this godly entity.

In the eye of this entity, the being that had plagued Remnant for centuries was less than nothing.

Salem wanted to cry out in defiance and tear her enemy asunder but she knew it would do no good against Nihileon. She might as well be a single ant compared to its supremacy so in the end, common sense won out.

The Grimm Witch gathered the essence of all of her fallen children, not to empower her but to defend her. A gigantic wall of Grimm bones manifested above her. Its armour was thicker than of her eldest children and no mundane weapon on Remnant had any hope of leaving a scratch on it, much less break through it.

Her impromptu shield was also alive to a certain extent. It was a new creation that Salem had concocted on the spot and it lacked any means of offense since its sole purpose was to protect its creator from almost certain destruction.

From the corner of her eye, Salem saw three of the four soul-wielders disappearing in red and black portals while Summer Rose heedlessly rushed towards Nihileon. The Grimm had no idea what the White Rose hoped that she would accomplish before being overwhelmed by the barrage but she had her own life to worry about first.

The living shield Grimm could withstand any and all manners of weapons from Remnant and it would come out of it unscathed. There was nothing on this planet that could ever hope of leaving a scratch on its armour, let alone break through it but the one that it was supposed to be defending Salem from was not of this world at all.

It lasted for all but five seconds under Nihileon's barrage as it crumbled into ashes. It was fine though since five seconds was all that the Grimm Witch needed to make her escape.

There was some wisdom in running away to live to see another day; one of the many things that she had learned from watching humanity for so long.

00000

The first village that Team D found was already under attack by Vex forces so none of the Guardians wasted time to begin Remnant's counterattack.

Prometheus-23 revved the engines of his Interceptor to full throttle before he backflipped out of the vehicle and sent it crashing forward, running over Grimm and Vex alike. The ground cracked beneath his weight as he landed in a crouch.

His Warlock companion sped towards him on her sparrow with her hand reaching out for him. Accepting the invitation, the Titan firmly clutched onto Lux Sylphid's hand and then spun her, sparrow and all, around, turning the vehicle into a spontaneous bludgeon as it smashed into both races of Darkness.

However, the sparrow was not built to take this much damage as it was now on the verge of blowing up. With one last revolution, Lux let go of the EV-37 Voidstreak and its abused engine detonated in the middle of a group mixed with Goblins and Minotaurs.

Taking out their respective hand cannons, the two members of Fireteam Nero spun each other around as if they were dancing while their guns roared with a seeming symphony and spelled the deaths of their foes. Their fluid movements looked like a choreographed performance than actual fighting as even the bulky Exo managed to look just as graceful as his Awoken companion.

For the finale, they let go of each other's hands and spun on their heels so they were now back to back. Prometheus swapped Polite Denial 0/1 for his shotgun, the 4th Horseman and unleashed a fury of Arc-infused buckshot at an Ursa Major, reducing the Alpha level beast into a gory pulp with one shot. Lux simply waved her free hand, shattering a Minotaur into many pieces with her arcane abilities.

Lux clenched her hand as she willed the remains of the Minotaur to crumple into a thick ball of metal. With an upward flick of her wrist, the ball was into the wall as the Titan jumped after it. The Exo brought his hand down on the ball like he was doing a spike with a volleyball. The ball collided down the earth with the force of a small bomb, killing several Grimm and Vex units in the process.

The area was now clear of hostiles thanks to the warriors of Earth but things didn't remain calm for long as Lux and another Warlock were nearly brought to their knees when they sensed an enormous power come into being. The rest of the Guardians couldn't tell the full extent of it but they too had felt it.

"What the hell was that?" Cayde-6 narrowed his optics at the direction where they sensed the power coming from while idly shooting down a Creep that they missed.

"I don't know but I've never felt power like this since Atheon," Lux informed the Hunter Vanguard with a growl. The Warlock was already quite familiar with the Vex god, having fought him alongside Prometheus-23 and Summer Rose when they raided the Vault of Glass.

If his face was able to, Cayde would have frowned. The avatar of Time's Conflux was a highly dangerous foe to face in battle and the implications of another being that felt like Atheon did not bode well for the Guardians and the people of Remnant.

But the troubles did not stop there.

"Sir, we're picking up a distress beacon. It's one of ours!" a Guardian of the Titan that the Exo Hunter did not bother to remember the name of declared loudly, catching the attention of Cayde and the rest of Fireteam Nero.

There was only one other Guardian besides the teams sent here on Remnant and if Summer Rose was willing enough to activate her seldomly used distress beacon, then it was safe to assume that the situation she was caught up in was very dire.

"Where is it transmitting from?" the Hunter Vanguard demanded in a rarely used serious tone.

"Sending the coordinates now."

Cayde saw the coordinates for Summer's location and was confused. The coordinates indicated that Summer was actually in the opposite direction of where that surge of Darkness came from and he was sure that she would have been the middle of it and confronting the source as they speak.

There was only one logical conclusion for this: Summer was currently stranded and could not get to the source of the power surge on time. Sighing, Cayde altered his strategies in less than a second.

"Fireteam Nero, you head to where that Darkness surge came from and eliminate the source if you can," the Hunter Vanguard ordered, earning nods from the Warlock and the Titan, "As for the rest of you guys, protect as much civilians as you can and kill any hostiles that get in your way."

"What about you, sir?" Prometheus inquired as he and Lux got on their respective vehicles.

"I'm gonna pick up the little knucklehead and bring Fireteam Nero's Hunter back," Cayde answered before he mounted his sparrow and set off to where Rose was broadcasting her distress beacon.

The Hunter Vanguard was heading towards a Rose but he didn't know that he was heading towards the one who was more partial to red than white instead.

00000

Summer was known for many things and had gained the titles to match but there was one title that stood out among them. That title was Godslayer.

The Guardian had faced beings so powerful that it wasn't an exaggeration to refer to them as gods and in spite of all of the odds stacked against her, she was able to slay them in the end, earning her famous title as Godslayer in the process.

Even though she had killed numerous gods by now, they were by no means easy battles and they all pushed Summer to her very limits and beyond. Each of them required her utmost focus and a single mistake could have meant her ultimate demise. She had attained so many experience from fighting superior foes that her own power and abilities had grown leaps and bounds, which was a good thing or else she would have already been annihilated by Nihileon's initial attack.

"Raven, get Qrow and Tai outta here!" she commanded as her hand gripped Bolt-caster tightly while the other one pulled out Fair and Square.

The Taiyaing Xiao Long, Qrow and Raven Branwen fought pretty well but they were nowhere near ready enough to face something like Nihileon and live to tell the tale. Neither was Summer but she had more than one life to spare, unlike the rest of them.

As for Salem, screw her. The Guardian still had a bit of a grudge against the Grimm Witch for causing her death and she wouldn't be bothered if she died in the crossfire.

"But what about yo-" Taiyang was about to protest but the leader of Team STRQ cut him off.

"Now," Summer said with a stone cold tone of finality. The rest of Team STRQ felt shivers down their spine as they heard their leader's order. Raven wordlessly acquiesced and transported herself and the males to safety.

The masked woman's semblance had a far greater range than Summer's blink while Summer could use hers at a much faster rate. So Raven could carry all of them away with her semblance while Summer could use hers for quick dodges.

Not like Blinking or Shadestepping would have made much of a difference here.

Switching FS to full-auto, Summer aimed the pulse rifle at the space above and in front of her. She squeezed the trigger and the stream of bullets collided with the energy bolts, detonating them early in a spectacular display of lights if she had bothered to stay idle to watch it.

With the path somewhat clear from the volley, the Guardian dashed towards Nihileon while cutting down any Vex in her path with Bolt-caster. She was still buffeted by the explosions of Void going off beside her, not enough for a direct hit but enough to strain her shields. Eventually, Fair and Square's magazine ran out so she tossed it aside, the gun dispersing back into her inventory. Not stopping her charge, she pulled out the automatic rifle, Red Spectre and started shooting at the explosive Void bolts above and ahead of her to further clear a path for her.

By the time that the prototype of the Red Death ran out of ammo in its magazine, Summer had already reached a sufficient distance from the Vex god. She put the gun away and finally unleashed all of the power that she had been gathering this whole time.

The ground beneath her boots exploded from under her as she launched herself towards Nihileon with speed far surpassing that of light. This was no ordinary Arc Blade, which was why it took her so long to charge it. Then there was also the fact that several of her bones cracked from the natural physics attempting to stop her.

She ignored all of that however and let herself fall deeper into the blade trance. She was no longer Summer Rose, Guardian of the Hunter class. She was merely a blade seeking a target to sink its edge into.

She truly lived up to her title as a Bladedancer as she gracefully weaved around the energy projectiles like they were standing still, speed not lessening in the slightest. Bolt-caster struck Nihileon's arm that held the Torch Hammer. With the combined force of her charge and the strength of her sword, managed to cut through the armour and then sever the limb entirely.

Summer grinned from under her helmet as the appendage flew off to the side, crushing several Vex units as it landed. Even though she had almost destroyed her own body in the process, she was at least able to cripple the Vex go-

 _ **FLASH!**_

"Huh?" Summer voiced her confusion as she saw that she was in the midst of her Arc Blade and was currently speeding towards the now two-armed Vex god. Shaking her head, she pushed aside her confusion and committed to her attack once more.

That should have been the first sign that something was wrong but she was too deep into the blade trance to stop now.

Instead of amputating the cannon arm once again, Nihileon brought its broadsword to bare and swatted the Guardian aside like one might do to a fly, sending her crashing towards the ground where she created a long and deep trench with her body.

Order's Mask was a lost cause as it had been crack opened completely, exposing her blood drenched face to the world but that wasn't all. Both of her legs had been horribly mangled, preventing her from even standing up much less taking a single step. About half of her ribs were broken and had punctured several of her internal organs, most prominently her lungs. Her left shoulder had been dislocated and it was a miracle that she still managed to hold on to Bolt-caster.

All in all, it was not the worst state that Summer had found herself in but it was definitely up there with being slowly torn in half by Ogres and being literally turned inside-out by her Warlock companion, Lux Sylphid. If it wasn't for the blade trance shutting off her sense of pain and enhancing her durability, then she would already be expecting a resurrection right about now but it was still fast approaching due to her current broken state.

A multitude of Vex stood over the edge of the trench and aimed their guns at her prone form. It looked like that resurrection was coming closer than she thought it would.

Their rifles finished charging and they let loose a bombardment of energy bolts at the defenseless Guardian.

However, a wolf would still retain the ability to bite even if it was crippled and just like the nickname that Lord Saladin had christened her with, Summer was still far from completely defenseless. She was also not going to let something trivial like searing pain and broken legs stop her for long.

The projectiles impacted against the projected Arc shield of Bolt-caster, defending its wielder from further harm. During the brief lull of gunfire, Summer brought the butt of her sword's hilt to her dislocated shoulder, forcefuly setting the joint back in place. With both arms returned to functional condition, she Blinked herself above the collected Vex.

Her legs weren't the only things that she relied on for movement.

In midair, the Guardian was able to painfully reset the bones in her legs. It was far from mending them and they would soon break again if her feet even touched the ground but it was necessary for her to do if she wanted them to heal properly.

Wielding Bolt-caster with both hands, she brought the sword down with a short battle-cry, cleaving a Minotaur in half. She could feel the lifeforce of the heavy infantry unit being drained away before flowing into her through the blade. As the energies of the deceased Vex washed into her, her chest felt lighter and her breath came in easier again, signifying that her wounds were being healed albeit at a slow pace yet much faster than letting herself heal naturally.

Bladedancers usually found themselves in the thick of battle whether or not they went with the stealthy approach so they had to build up their own endurance to a level that could potentially rival mid-leveled Titans. Because of this, Summer was a whole lot tougher than what her lithe appearance would suggest.

Building up their durability wasn't the only tenet of a Bladedancer. Superhuman could only take so much punishment before the person reached their limit so they devised a way to not only increase their toughness but also extend it by absorbing the lifeforce of those that fell before their blades to replenish their own, which was what Summer was doing now.

Not willing to strain her injured legs just yet, she teleported to the nearest Vex and sliced it into two, promptly consuming its lifeforce to heal her before she moved on to another until she was returned to satisfactory condition. This was done in mere seconds and all without setting a single toe on the ground.

It was just in time too as Nihileon had decided to stop waiting for her and launched a shockwave of _titanic_ proportions towards her with a single swing of his broadsword. Summer Shadestepped out of the way of the attack since it was too fast for her to use Blink.

One of the benefits of Shadestep was that the user experienced a brief window of intangibility so virtually any attack would harmlessly pass over them if they timed it right.

Successfully avoiding certain death once again, Summer saw the shockwave scar the very earth itself before reaching the sea. The attack didn't stop there however as the waves parted before the shear power behind it. The shockwave continued soaring out into the horizon before finally dissipitating once it reached the middle of the continent, Anima but not without instantly wiping out several small villages that were able to survive the initial Vex assault.

The Guardian did not know the exact extent that Nihileon's attack had caused but she was sure that any caught in its path would certainly be utterly obliterated. Growling, Summer bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as her silver eyes glowed furiously with power. In order to save her own life, countless others had lost theirs.

She tore the remains of Order's Mask from her head and hurled it towards a Hobgoblin. The helmet may have been broken beyond repair but it was still durable enough to be able to cave in the Vex unit's chest, killing it.

Pulling her hood back up, Summer quickly browsed through her collection of spare helmets and selected one that would suit her needs. Three eyes glowing with green lights peered out from under her hood as the Mask of the Third Man encased around her head, providing her with the basic HUD utilities once more. Charging power into Bolt-caster, the young Hunter sent a wave of destructive energy to the side with a single swing of the Arc-imbued blade, annihilating over dozens of Vex in an instant while the subsequent explosion proceeded to destroy even more.

One way or another, the Guardian was going to make Nihileon pay for the lives it took. That meant more of the kid's gloves were coming off.

Summer pulled out the weapon of sorrow, Thorn and she started to unwrap the leather bindings on the hand cannon's handle, revealing Hive glyphs etched onto its sides. Under her breath, she chanted some unholy invocation of the Hive that she had learned during her brief period of wielding the Touch of Malice.

Thorn began to pulsate fiercely as the glyphs and whatever small openings on the gun glowed with eldritch green energy. Small spikes erupted from along the Hive forged weapon's barrel, making its appearance even spikier than before.

The hand cannon of the late Dredgen Yor purred in satisfaction as its true form was finally unleashed by the one that it chose to be its second wielder. Its power of inflicting festering sickness was no longer restrained as Summer brought the full might of Thorn's unholy power to bear.

As if to demonstrate Thorn's unlocked power, the Guardian fired its specialized darts at a couple of Goblins while not bothering to aim properly. The bullets merely grazed the Vex units but it was enough as the Mark of the Devourer took effect.

Normally, the corrosive effects were slow and didn't last for long but with the weapon of sorrow no longer restrained, the Vex units began to melt down into slag at an alarming pace. The Vex were no more.

This was one of the reasons why Dredgen Yor was so dangerous. The former Guardian had created a weapon that could kill almost anything, even Guardians with _one shot_ , which was why most of Thorn's power had been sealed away when Shin Malphur presented it as proof of the corrupted Guardian's demise.

But a weapon of sorrow was not without consequences.

Summer fought to prevent the sadistic grin from forming on her face as glowing green tribal-like markings etched themselves onto the arm where she held Thorn. It could not be seen due to the Mask of the Third Man but the sclerae of her silver eyes had turned black as dark thoughts threatened to consume her mind.

Thorn chose the Hunter as its next wielder because she had the potential to become just like Dredgen Yor and yet despite all of its efforts to turn her to the Darkness and turn her to another Dredgen Yor, Summer was able to overcome it all and stayed resolutely with the Light as she also wielded the Darkness like what she would with the Traveler's gift.

The memories of Ruby and Yang, past and present, smiling brightly at her overshadowed the whispers that Thorn spoke within the confines of her mind, giving her the mental fortitude needed to stay true to herself. Summer knew what was at stake if she let the Darkness consume her like it did with Dredgen Yor. She also knew what was at stake if she failed to stop Nihileon here and now.

Not just for Remnant's sake but for her precious daughters, she must not ever falter.

"Alright, time for round two."

00000

AN:

Remember one of Thorn's ornaments, specifically the Rose of Corruption one. It was my favorite ornament so far and it also gave me ideas on how to incorporate it storywise even though it was just for aesthetics.


	42. Time's Thorns

AN:

Consider this an early Christmas (or Dawning) present.

00000

Chapter 42

"Aaaah!" Ruby Rose cried out in pain as her back slammed against the wall with great force. Fortunately, her Aura and armour were able to protect her from major harm after her shields were depleted by whatever attacked her. She slid down the wall and planted the bottom half of Crescent Rose's shaft to the floor to support her.

As for what attacked her, the rest of Team RWBY were in the middle of combat with it. For all intents and purposes, the enemy looked like a Death Stalker, A grimm that they were all familiar with but that was where the similarities ended.

Where there was bony carapace was, there was cold metal. Instead of six beady red eyes, a lone optic pulstating with yellow energy like that of a beating heart stood in the center of its face. As for the tail…

"Who the hell would be crazy enough to install a laser gun on a Death Stalker!?" Yang Xiao Long shouted in outrage as she crossed her arms together to block a high-powered Void bolt that the Death Stalker shot from the Torch Hammer attached to its tail.

She was able to tank the shot due to her own armour and shields and it was to also absorb the strength behind the attack to add to her own. In retaliation, the brawler launched an explosive right cross at the altered Death Stalker but all it did was leave a slight burn mark and an indent of her fist on its armour.

The Death Stalker in question had been significantly modified with Vex components that it looked like an amalgam of Grimm and Vex. The scorpion shaped Grimm were deadly opponents to begin with but now this specimen was made much more so. It also no longer relied on its natural instincts and appeared to act on somewhat sentient thought since it would always proceed to burrow underground whenever Team RWBY managed to deplete its shields.

"Apparently, Dr. Merlot," Blake Belladonna answered as she and Weiss Schnee relentlessly slashed at the Grimm-Vex hybrid to no effect due to its own shields protecting it. It was almost like their initiation all over again with how much trouble they were having against this monster.

Through their investigations of the terminals and fighting Vex androids, they learned that this facility was built by the supposedly defunct Merlot Industries. The company specialized in Grimm research and also had another facility back in Mountain Glenn but that one was long gone by now. This secret facility continued experimenting on the Grimm and then began doing the same with Vex technology shortly after the Vex invasion started.

And the man who left those audio files that they found was none other than Dr. Merlot, the founder of Merlot Industries.

The leader of Team RWBY pushed herself up and steadied herself as she waited for her shields to recharge, which took a few seconds. Once back to full, the young reaper raised her weapon as she could feel Crescent Rose rumble in encouragement. She aimed the scythe head behind her and then squeezed the trigger, launching herself into the fray once more.

This Vex-Death Stalker was turning out to be more powerful than any Grimm or Vex that Team RWBY have ever fought. They would have to pull out all stops if they wanted to survive this battle much less win. If all else failed, then they would have to settle for stalling for time since Ruby had already activated the distress beacon that her mother gave her for emergencies.

Being trapped in an underground lab with a cyborg Death Stalker definitely counted as an emergency, right?

Team RWBY fought the Death Stalker for what seemed like hours as they played some sort of messed up cat and mouse game where the roles of cat and mouse were interchangeable and both were trying to kill the other first. However, the Huntresses in training were beginning to tire while the Death Stalker was not.

At this rate, it would be a battle of attrition. One that they would surely lose unless something to change to the tides of battle happened. Like, say, a certain Guardian crashing through the door to save the day.

It would have irked the first year team to admit that they needed an adult's help when they have accomplished a lot without it but they were mature enough to acknowledge the fact that they were way over their heads. Plus, Summer Rose could hardly be classified as a proper adult due to her spontaneous immaturity. As much as Yang and Ruby loved their mother, she could be a bit of a handful that it made _them_ seem the older ones at times.

Little did they know that the two girls _were_ technically older than their mother, a fact that Summer hadn't the opportunity to mention to them.

The Grimm Vex clamped one of its pincers around Yang but she was able to catch both ends before they could snap her in half. Gritting her teeth hard, Yang struggled to hold back the pincer as her teammates moved in to free her. Its other claw swiped at Blake Belladonna, who evaded it by replacing herself with a shadow clone while its tail fired at the red speedster and Schnee heiress, who were forced to dart around the area to avoid being disintergrated.

While invisible, the former White Fang member lunged toward the Death Stalker and slashed both blades on its thick plates, leaving only two light scratches on the surface. Clicking her tongue in frustration, Blake jumped over a retaliatory swipe from the Grimm Vex and hurled Gambol Shroud at its tail. Proving its superior intelligence than the average Grimm, the Grimm Vex moved its tail away before the flail could latch onto it.

The faunus girl projected another shadow clone and then used it as a springboard to jump away from the cyborg Grimm. Weiss summoned a series of glyphs around the monster. She and Ruby used the glyphs to great effect as they zipped around its form, relentlessly attacking its shell to probe for a weak spot.

As Yang's arms were about to give in, the Death Stalker threw the blonde girl at Weiss, knocking the white haired girl out of the air. With her concentration disrupted, the glyphs vanished, leaving the red hooded girl without another platform to land on.

Ruby was still quite adaptable and she simply used a combination Crescent Rose's recoil and her semblance to compensate for the glyphs. In a swirl of red rose petals, the reaper materialized behind the Death Stalker as its golden stinger flew off, depriving the creature of its long-ranged weapon.

In spite of how smart of a move that was, it turned out to be the wrong thing to do as the Death Stalker's lone eye now emitted a bright red light to express the primal rage of a Grimm and a berserk Vex combined.

It let out a loud roar and set upon the young leader at a much faster speed than before. Ruby barely had enough time to raise her own scythe in defense much less dodge as she clenched her eyes shut in preparation for the pain that she would no doubt be in.

"RUBY!" Yang called out in horror as a very familiar scene of a Death Stalker about to hurt her beloved sister played out before her. She desperately pushed herself up and sprinted towards the young girl but the brawler knew that she wasn't going to make it.

The Death Stalker slammed one of its large claws down onto the reaper's form, sending a plume of dust to partially obscure the the Grimm Vex's form as well as whatever was left of Ruby Rose.

"No…" Yang muttered in utter despair as she fell to her knees. Tears came pouring down her cheeks as she choked back a sob. She failed. Her precious little sister was de-

"Well, this is certainly a surprise, kiddo," a masculine with a slightly synthesized undertone to it called out, interrupting the brawler's train of thought.

The Death Stalker roared in both pain and surprise as the pincer that it used to attack the red hooded girl was suddenly blown to pieces, blowing the dust cloud away to reveal a male figure with a brown hooded cape and slung over his shoulder was none other than Ruby, safe and sound.

Tears of mourning now became tears of relief as Yang stared at Ruby's savior with great joy. In spite of not knowing who the man was or being able to see his face from her angle, she was so extremely grateful to him that it made her almost forget about the still alive and still very dangerous cyborg Death Stalker.

"I didn't think you would have so much with something like this. I thought you would have known better, kiddo," the mysterious Huntsman mused as he took a casual backstep to avoid a swipe from the Death Stalker's remaining claw. As the appendage passed him by, he stuck several small devices on the pincer. Taking another nonchalant step back, the man grabbed the edge of his cape and raised it before him like a shield as the devices emitted two beeps before detonating in a spectacular expression that would have impressed a cerain hammer wielder from Team JNPR.

Whatever was in those explosives was potent enough to break through the cyborg Death Stalker's armour and deprived it of its remaining pincer. It savagely thrashed the stumps of its arms around before it charged towards the man with reckless abandon.

The man, for his part, sighed in resignation before he and Ruby vanished in a cloud of smoke, causing the Death Stalker to crash into the wall instead. He then reappeared next to a shellshocked Blake and gently set a surprised Ruby down. He turned to face the Grimm Vex as it struggled to pry itself out of the wall.

"It's about time I put you down," the man said as he pulled out a knife.

Team RWBY eyed the weapon in the man's hand in surprise. They recognized that blade for it was of the same make as Summer Rose's knives. As if to further prove their assumption, a powerful current of electricity was channeled into the knife as the wielder put his index finger through one of the rings and spun it around so fast that it resembled a buzzsaw.

This man, their savior was a Guardian just like Ruby's mother.

The Death Stalker finally managed to wrest itself out of the wall and turned around to charge at the revealed Guardian in an attempt to crush him beneath its own weight but it did not go very far as the man hurled the Arc-imbued weapon at it.

Only when the knife buried into the wall behind the Death Stalker as the creature in question split perfectly down the middle, did they hear the loud boom that was the result of his throw. With a flourish wave of his cape, the Guardian turned on his heel as the halves of the cyborg Grimm exploded behind him like in those action films where the heroes had their backs turned to an awesome explosion.

Team RWBY heard the sharp whistling of air like something was being hurled towards them. Before they could discern what it was, the Guardian whipped his arm out and caught the knife by the blade between two fingers. He tossed it into air and caught it by the handle before sheathing knife.

"Whoa, that…was…amazing!" Ruby jumped into the air in excitement. Weiss would have felt embarrased by their leader's display but she found herself agreeing with the younger girl. That was certainly amazing.

"I know, I know," the male Guardian said as he turned to look at them, making the girls pause in alarm as they finally got a good look of his face, "Hold your applause, ple-"

"You're a robot like Penny!" the young leader exclaimed in realization as she pointed a finger at the android with Guardian abilities.

From under his hood was a mechanical face belonging to that of an android. They may have never seen that particular model before but they could recognize a robot when they see one.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg for not only was this android good enough to easily dispatch that modified Death Stalker but they could also sense that he used the power of the soul when he did. It should have been impossible for an android to have a soul but the proof was right in front of them and had saved their lives.

At least for the rest of Team RWBY since Ruby was already aware of it being possible from having discovered Penny's secret, which the others were supposed to be unaware of.

"Penny's a robot!" Weiss, Blake and Yang exclaimed in surprise, having not known that earlier.

"Oops, that was supposed to be a secret."

"Who's Penny?" the robot asked in apparent confusion, sounding surprisingly human before shaking his head, "Wait, it doesn't matter."

"Have you lost your touch or something?" the robot Guardian demanded, pointedly staring at the red hooded girl with his light blue opticals while gesturing to the Grimm Vex remains with his thumb, "I know that thing was pretty unexpected but you shouldn't have had so much trouble with it."

"I'm…sorry?" Ruby replied with a bit of confusion as she wondered why this robot was acting like he personally knew her, "But do I know yo-"

But the robot didn't let her finish her inquiry as he prattled on, "As much as I loved making an entrance, you put yourself and others at an unecessary risk and I-"

He paused in his somewhat reprimand as he noticed one crucial detail.

"Summer, is it just me or did you get shorter?"

"Hey, I drink milk!" Ruby retorted with a pout from under her helmet, annoyed that her size was brought up. Like her mother, she was quite sensitive about her height and being in a school where everyone was older than her didn't really help with her complex.

"Like that would actually help a Guardian get taller," the robot rolled his eyes in exasperation like he had this conversation before.

Wait a minute, the Guardian called her Summer. He must have mistaken Ruby for her mother, who was also a Guardian like him. It made sense since the distress beacon was originally her mother's and it broadcasted on a Guardian's only radio frequency.

"Um, I'm not Summer," the young girl felt the need to correct him.

"Come again?" the Guardian blinked as if in bemusement.

"I'm not Summer," Ruby repeated as she took off her helmet to reveal a face that looked like a younger version of her mother's, "I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"…" the robot remained silent and simply stared at the girl with an unreadable look in his eyes. Not that any of them knew how to read a robot.

"Summer Rose is my mom."

…

…

"Dammit Summer! I told you a thousand times that you weren't allowed to make a clone of yourself!"

00000

"Huh?" Summer Rose perked her head up in alarm while shooting the last Cyclopes with Thorn. The heavy artillery units were quickly consumed by the Mark of the Devourer and were reduced to mere puddles of slag.

The female Guardian leapt back to evade the volley of energy bolts from Nihileon's Torch Hammer while she swung Bolt-caster around her to deflect the weaker shots from the cannon fodder. Summer still wasn't skilled enough to divert projectiles back to their sender and the constant mental intrusions from Thorn weren't helping her with that but with how numerous shots were, some Vex units were still being shot down by their own attacks.

The broadsword in Nihileon's other hand began to glow with a brilliant red light, signaling that it was about to unleash another devastating attack. Summer wasn't going to let that happen however and unloaded Thorn's entire clip at the Vex god. The bullets were little more than bug bites as it impacted against the glowing core in Nihileon's chest but it was the effects that were in the bullets that did any damage.

Black lines spread across the core as the Hive curse started to consume the Vex god's lifeforce. Nihileon staggered a bit as the core in its chest was flickering like a dyin-

 _ **FLASH!**_

Nihileon aimed its cannon at her and launched another encompassing energy barrage. Frowning, Summer's form dispersed into three separate clusters of black slightly wilted rose petals as they flowed around the energy bolts before reforming into her human form once she safely made it past the attack.

Sheathing Bolt-caster on her back, Summer called upon the burning sensation that was her Solar powers and pulled out the illustrious Golden Gun in her free hand. What should have been a sleek hand cannon was replaced by a flaming variant of the full powered Thorn.

"Feel the sting of my _Thorns_ ," the Guardian said calmly as she raised the hand cannons and fired both at the same time. The barbed dart and the Solar bullet spiraled about one another and trailed white rose petals that slowly wilted into ashes before piercing Nihileon dead center on its lone optical, leaving a gaping hole in its place.

It was not only Thorn that received a power boost. A weapon of sorrow fed on its owner's negative emotions to fuel its own dark power. That dark power would then in turn enhance the wielder's power in a sort of symbiotic relationship. It was not a true symbiotic relationship though since the wielder would succumb the weapon's sinister urges and become corrupted.

Under normal circumstances, Summer would have been incapable of accessing Thorn's extra features as a weapon of sorrow after having killed Xyor, the Unwed but the Hive secrets that Oryx gave her through the Touch of Malice allowed her to bypass this obstacle and let her use Thorn's full unadulterated power for her own as well as augment some of her abilities.

 _ **FLASH!**_

"Hm, it's just as I thought," Summer regarded the newly restored Vex god with a detached edge, "Nihileon has the ability to reset time within a set area."

It was concerning that Nihileon had a reality warping power that wasn't limited by being within the confines of the Vault of Glass and the power to reset time would have made defeat all but certain for Summer but there were some details that told her the power wasn't completely flawless.

Nihileon could only turn back the clock by a few seconds at most and the range of this ability was limited to a its immediate surroundings. The mental clock that she had was advanced by almost a minute with the number of times that she forced Nihileon to reset. After gauging the amount time it could go back to, Summer left a marker on a Vex corpse over ten meters away from the Vex god and then closed in on her with destructive force. After the reset, she found herself only two meters away from Nihileon and the marker that she left behind was still there even though it should have vanished along with the reset.

Even though, the Guardian knew the range, both chronologically and spatially, it mattered little if Nihileon could bring itself back to prime condition every time Summer dealt enough damage to it. But that too had its limits.

It may be able to restore life threatening injuries but it couldn't do it completely. The arm, where Summer severed it from, now had a long and deep scar as if its arm was haphazardly re-attached with a blowtorch. The same applied to where Thorn's bullets had hit. Evident signs of corrosion could be seen on some parts of its armour and its single optical sported cracks all over its lense.

It seemed that the Vex's reality-altering abilities lost some of its potency if they weren't in one of their realms. As it stood now, all Summer had to do was keep her distance while whittling away at Nihileon's health until it reached a state where it could no longer reset.

" _A task easier said than done,"_ the White Rose cynically thought as Nihileon flashed into existence right in front of her and swung its sword down onto her form. She blinked away to gain some distance only for the Vex god to obstinately follow after her.

Summer took note of the irony that it was now _her_ who was trying to distance herself from the enemy while the enemy stubbornly tried to engage her in close quarters combat.


	43. Guardians Will Rise

Chapter 43

"Seriously, why the _fuck_ did people think me and Summer were a thing?" Lux Sylphid asked incredulously as she and Prometheus-23 skillfully raced through the forest terrain on their vehicles.

For his part, Prometheus simply gave her a deadpan stare like it should be the most obvious thing in the world as his Interceptor crashed through lines of trees without slowing down. The Cabal vehicle was not lacking in speed but it wasn't as agile as a sparrow so weaving around the trees was an exercise of futility while riding an Interceptor.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Lux, think for a moment," the Titan told her patiently, "Remember how you and Summer interact at times."

"How does me constantly trying to kill the little shit make others think we're lesbian lovers or something?"

Lux didn't have anything against homosexuality or whatever but she was pretty certain that she was attracted to males even though she had no interest whatsoever for dating. Guardians had better things to do than romantic pursuits after all.

There were some exceptions though but the Warlock wasn't one of them. At least not anymore.

"No, I'm actually talking about the _other_ times you interacted with each other without coming to blows," he corrected as he swiftly drew Polite Denial 0/1 and shot down a Beowolf that attempted to blindside his Interceptor. He didn't want to sound as if he was belittling the people of this planet but the Grimm were more of a nuisance than an actual threat to Guardians of his level.

While inattentively slaughtering the Grimm and the Vex in their path, the Awoken began to think back to all of the times where she wasn't trying to kill the younger Guardian.

Like the afternoons where the Warlock and the Hunter ate ice cream together in the gardens of the Tower after another victorious Crucible match. Summer would eat so sloppily like a piglet, forcing Lux to wipe her face clean with a tissue. In spite of the hassle of cleaning her junior's face, the Awoken would smile in an affectionate manner at her comrade's childish blunder. It was also one of the very few moments where Lux would genuinely smile while not caring for any passing onlookers.

Another example would be when Summer was grieviously injured and Lux wouldn't let her kill herself to quicken the healing process. The older Guardian would then fuss over the young Hunter much like a mother hen and would even require two Titans to forcibly pry her away from the White Rose's bedside until the latter was fully recovered.

But one instance stood out among the rest and that was a certain incident where both Lux and Summer got really drunk and-

"Holy shit! We _do_ look like a couple!"

It wasn't unusual for close friends to act that way with each other but there were some people out there that would see their closeness differently. In a much more different light. Even after hundreds of years after the Collapse, there were still shippers prowling about and constantly preaching about their OTPs or some shit.

Unfortunately, Lux no longer had the time to ruminate over the big misunderstanding of her and Summer's sexual orientation due to the two Guardians arriving to the source of the Darkness surge.

From the data that they had of Remnant, the island of Vytal was supposedly a very verdant isle that would give people a sense of peace just by looking at it but the once lush island had been reduced to a scorched battleground as a familiar figure did battle with a being that resembled a black Atheon and had the power to match.

Nihileon, Time's End.

But another Vex at Atheon's level was the least of Lux and Prometheus' worries as they spotted Summer Rose. While the latter was immensely relieved to see their youngest companion relatively safe and sound, the Warlock was beset with concern for she could sense the waves of Darkness was not only coming from Nihileon but also from _Summer Rose_ herself.

The amount of Darkness being emitted from the White Rose was enough to make even members of the _Hive_ pause. Taking a closer examination of Summer's aura, Lux was able to deduce that it _was_ Hive in origin. Unless the Hunter was able to find another weapon forged from Hive mysticism, the Warlock had an inkling that Thorn had something to do with Summer's current condition.

Thankfully, Summer was still brimming with Light and was using it to keep the Darkness at bay but for however long that would last, it was hard to tell. Either way, they had to help Summer before it was too late.

Lux activated the maximum overdrive on her sparrow, pushing the engines far past their limits while propelling herself faster than Prometheus' Interceptor. The engines burst into flames and was on the brink of exploding so she quickly jumped out of the vehicle.

The flaming sparrow whizzed past Summer's form and detonated in the midst of a group of Vex while Lux called upon her Light to alter her descent to a slow glide. The moment her feet touched the ground next to Summer, she sent a wave of concussive force to the left while unloading Hawkmoon's entire clip at the right, killing scores of Vex units at once.

As the Warlock reloaded, Prometheus-23 followed shortly by driving his Interceptor in front of them to provide them extra cover before dismounting. A minotaur teleported past the Cabal vehicle only to receive a crushing uppercut from the Titan, reducing its upper body into pieces.

Running out into the open, Prometheus pulled out the machine gun, Zombie Apocalypse WF47 and he unleashed a torrent of high caliber rounds at Nihileon, making it stagger for a moment. Registering the Exo Titan as another high-priority threat, the towering Vex god shifted its focus on the charging Titan, allowing the Hunter and the Warlock time for a heartfelt reunion.

"You fucking idiot!" Lux roared as she punched Summer right across the face. The Hunter may have been protected from harm due to her helmet and shields but her head was still reeling from the strong blow.

Warlocks were not as physically strong as Hunters and Titans but their physical abilities were still far above that of normal humans. Lux also made it a point to train her body just as much as her Light so she was strong enough to wrestle with Eliksni warriors hand-to-hand if needed.

The Awoken didn't give the human time to recover as she grabbed the scruff of the shorter girl's cloak and furiously glared at her.

"What were you thinking!?" Lux demanded as she shook the young Hunter, "I don't know how you were able to remove the seals placed on Thorn but you should have known the dangers of doing so."

"It was necessary at the time," Summer responded as she gripped the Warlock's wrist to stop her from shaking her, "Nihileon had proven that it was a powerful foe and my current abilities weren't enough to stop it. Not on my own at least."

The White Rose didn't speak in her usual carefree manner. She talked like she was merely stating facts and brought up arguments in a logical manner.

It must have been the effects of Thorn feeding off of her negative emotions and as a failsafe, shut off the rest to stave off its corruptive influence. The Warlock had to give her credit. At least Summer didn't jump into it fully unprepared for she could still sense enough Light to counterbalance the Darkness threatening to consume her.

It was so like Summer. She couldn't even be corrupted by a Weapon of Sorrow properly.

Nihileon suddenly materialized above them and it was about to bring its massive sword down on the two Guardians. The female Lightbearers were unperturbed though as the lone male of Fireteam Nero smashed against the Vex god with the power of the sun propelling him like a meteor.

The Vex god crashed into the ground, burying a giant trench with its body. The flaming form of the Titan landed on his feet with the Hammer of Sol by his side. Charging his Light, Prometheus banged his hammer on the ground, causing cracks to web out towards Nihileon. From the cracks, lava erupted and trapped the avatar of Time's End from the waist down in molten earth.

The friendly Exo had flowed into the path of the Sunbreaker just as easily as Summer did with the path of the Bladedancer. It made sense for someone named 'Prometheus' to master the power over fire in such a short amount of time.

Prometheus raised his hammer once more and was about to rush towards the trapped form of Nihileon but he was abruptly surrounded by numerous Minotaurs. The heavy infantry units didn't last long against the Sunbreaker's might as he effortlessly crushed several them into pieces with a single swing from his hammer but it gave Nihileon time to break free from its earthy prison.

"I know the lives of this planet's people are important but it's not enough to warrant unleashing _that thing_ ," Lux gestured to the unlocked Thorn before placing her free hand on her surrogate little sister's shoulder while raising Hawkmoon in the other hand to dispatch several Vex trying to ruin their moment, " _Please_ , put it away before it's too late."

"I…can't," Summer shook her head before they whirled around and shot down more Goblin and Harpy units. Even when the two were having a heart to heart chat, they were too experienced to ever let their guards down especially in the middle of battle.

The Hunter and the Warlock popped out the spent rounds in their respective hand cannons and slammed in a fresh magazine. The female Guardians aimed their guns at Nihileon and cocked the hammers of their guns back. The barrels of Hawkmoon and Thorn began to glow as their corresponding owners imbued the bullets with their Light.

Infusing a bullet was a trick that Lux and Summer both thought of to simulate the power of a Gunslinger's Golden Gun. The Golden Gun of a master Hunter was still superior in many ways to their experiment but it could still provide an extra kick to a round in a regular hand cannon.

"Not until that thing's dead and my daughters are safe and sound," the Hunter determinedly stated before they pulled the triggers. The barbed dart of Thorn and Hawkmoon's feather-etched bullet sliced through the air, trailing wilted rose petals and feathers behind them. They smoothly entered the barrel of Nihileon's Torch Hammer, causing the alien weapon to violently explode in its grip shortly after.

With guns like Hawkmoon and Thorn, the results were nothing short of devastating. Not even Nihileon's ability to reset would be able to restore its Torch Hammer to working condition.

"You're always too stubborn for your own damn good," the Awoken sighed before what Summer said fully sunk in, "Wait a minute, 'your daughters'?"

Instead of answering, the Hunter tossed a blue green crystal to Lux who caught it with no trouble as Prometheus landed by their side.

"What did I miss?" the Titan asked as the flames on his body and Hammer of Sol in his hand dispersed into flickering embers. He defly caught a red crystal that the White Rose lightly threw towards him. The two elder members of Fireteam Nero stared at the crystals in their hands before staring at the youngest member for an explanation.

"Crush them and they'll restore your Light and then some," she simply said as she held out a purple crystal of her own. The other two members of Fireteam Nero gazed at each other and shrugged their shoulders before all three of them squeezed the crystals in their hands. Electricity, fire and void burst from their corresponding shattered crystal and wrapped around their bodies like a cloak so naturally.

The rush of power that they felt was like the first time when they unleashed their abilities over Light. It was as if they could take on the world or better yet, it felt like they could kill that son of a bitch, Nihileon.

In spite of it being a relatively clear sky, lightning fell down from the heavens and struck the Warlock's form with full force. It would seem as if the Awoken was completely vaporized by that strike of lightning as several more bolts struck the earth and electrocuted nearly all of the Vex minions at once. The electricity then gathered together and they shaped into Lux Sylphid's form. The currents of Arc wreathed around the Stormcaller like the long vestment that she wore as she entered the Stormtrance, becoming a living conduit of the storm itself.

Prometheus was more controlled when his body was adorned with even more intense Solar flames since Titans were more proned to destructive results when using their abilities but he could still feel the difference in strength than his usual Sunbreaker powers. He swung the Hammer of Sol to the side, creating a gale so strong that it obliterated a good portion of the island with that simple motion alone.

"I don't know what that stuff is but _damn_ , did that hit the fucking spot," Lux grinned ferally from under her helmet as she held her arms out with balls of condensed Arc in each hand. She shot off from the ground and she flew across the air while raining down bolts of lightning at Nihileon like an angry god.

"Not how I would say it but she has a point," the Exo Titan said before he launched himself forward, cratering the ground beneath his feet. Many Vex units materialized before him to obstruct him from his warpath but they were reduced to molten slag by being in close proximity to Prometheus' burning Light.

"Despite the circumstances, it's good to have Fireteam Nero back together," Summer stated as she exchanged Thorn for a bow composed of Void Light. Even with the Weapon of Sorrow put away, its powers were still affecting her own as the bow was adorned with ethereal thorny vines. She pulled the string of Void back and let loose the Shadowshot.

The Void arrow hit Nihileon with the strength of a Hive Ogre, knocking it back before trapping it within a Void Anchor. However, the Void Anchor was more akin to a Vortex Nova Bomb with its sheer power and range as half of Nihileon's body was trapped within a miniature black hole.

The Vex god tried to pull itself free but received a fiery hammer to the face before it could, knocking it off its feet. The Stormcaller propelled herself upwards. Upon reaching the clouds above, Lux harnessed the energy stored within the clouds and created a storm of her own with her powers before launching herself back towards the ground.

Prometheus zipped around the Vex god so that he was now behind it before forcefully smashing his hammer into its back, sending it flying upwards to meet Lux's electrified drop. As Nihileon was about to teleport itself to safety, six beams of Void Light impacted against its arms, legs, torso and head, locking them and the Vex god in place.

"You're not going anywhere," the Nightstalker held up her thorny bow of Void, having just released several Shadowshot in rapid succession.

The Titan then launched himself upwards with his Hammer of Sol reared back to strike and the hammer met with the Warlock's attack with Nihileon trapped in the middle of the explosions of Arc and Solar energy.

Even though Summer had a longer history with Team STRQ than with Fireteam Nero, she felt more connected to her fellow Guardians since she had almost no memory of the time spent with the former. Also, unlike Team STRQ, Fireteam Nero also claimed the title of Godslayer since they were ones that fought beside her to kill a majority of those supposed gods.

All in all, it was good to have the Fireteam Nero back together for not only was the White Rose reunited with her other family but killing Nihileon just became a whole lot easier.


	44. Nero's Assault

AN:

The first chapter for the new year and we're finally near the climax.

00000

Chapter 44

"Clone? Is that like the cupcake thingie people eat with their tea or something?" Ruby Rose asked as she rubbed the back of her head in confusion, reminding Cayde-6 of the girl's creator, Summer Rose.

"No Ruby, those are scones," Weiss corrected with a bit of impatience in her tone. The Schnee heiress may have high regard for the young leader but there were times where the girl's immaturity made it difficult to properly respect her like when the red Reaper showed her lacking knowledge on vocabulary.

"Ruby, a clone is a genetic duplicate of another person," Blake explained calmly, having read a lot of books including those of the sci-fi genre.

"Uuh, what?" the leader of Team RWBY tilted her head to the side like a confused little puppy. She had only understood about half the words in that sentence and not the ones that made sense.

"By the Traveler, there's two of them," Cayde muttered in a haunted tone, surprising the girls once more by how emotional he sounded. Remembering all of the shenanigans that Summer Rose had caused over years and multiplying them by two, he stared off into space for a few moments with his mouth wide open. His face lacked the ability to express emotions but Team RWBY could tell that he was horrified by the prospect of there being _two_ Summer Roses.

Still maintaining the haunted expression on his face, the robot Guardian pulled out one of his hand cannons and pressed the barrel against his temple. Their eyes widened in realization at what he was about to do and moved to stop him from killing himself even though he could resurrect from it due to his nature as a Guardian.

Because of her semblance, Ruby was the first to make it and she was about to quickly slap the gun out of his hand only for the Guardian to suddenly aim the gun behind him. He squeezed the trigger and a high caliber round buried into the skull of a Beowolf, killing it instantly.

But it was no ordinary Beowolf for it had received the same enhancements as the Death Stalker from earlier. Unlike the Death Stalker however, this Grimm Vex had a pack of the same enhanced Beowolves to back it up.

Ruby stopped in her tracks at the sight of the cyborg Grimm but the robot Guardian took their appearance in stride. Without even turning around to look at the enemies, he fired the hand cannon several more times, each round striking a killing blow.

Still unperturbed by more Grimm Vex hybrids, the Guardian holstered his hand cannon with a twirl. He then brought his hands in front of his face as if he was praying and sighed dramatically (or at least made the approximate sound equivalent to sighing since he couldn't actually breathe).

"Alright, how about we start from the top?" the male(?) Guardian suggested, having apparently calmed down, "I am Cayde-6 of the Vanguard. Would you be kind enough to tell me your names and your relationship with Guardian Summer Rose in great detail?"

"Also…" The newly introduced Cayde was about to add but trailed off as his optics widened in realization, "You also have silver eyes. I don't believe it. Another survivor of the Roseus lineage."

00000

In spite of his position as one of the Vanguard, Cayde was a pretty laidback guy that had the tendency to make witty remarks. He could still be serious if the situation called for it though but those times were few and far in between each other.

But the fact that his second protégé, Summer Rose may have created a progeny at what was a former colony of humanity was enough to send his thought processers on overdrive.

He also might have overreacted a bit by aiming a gun at his head but it was all good now.

The Hunter Vanguard immediately had his Ghost look up any and all information pertaining to Summer Rose the moment he was able to discern that the girl he had mistaken as a clone of Summer was not a genetic copy of the Guardian in question.

He reigned in his emotions as the flood of information entered his mind and told him that Summer Rose was a former denizen of this world prior to her induction to the Guardian ranks. It certainly explained the young Ruby Rose here, who Summer had given birth to about six years before her reported demise.

Cayde wasn't a Warlock but he had enough experience to read a person's soul if he took a closer look. The girl who introduced herself as Ruby Rose possesed a very similar soul to Summer Rose that he had mistaken her for the White Rose at first glance. But a closer examination informed him that while there were many similarities, there were also some minor differences.

Those differences may seemed trivial in comparison to the similarities but for souls, they were so much more than that.

But that wasn't the end of it. From his examination, he was able to discern that the girl was in fact not a Guardian despite possessing an extraordinary affinity with the Light. It shouldn't make sense for a mere mortal to have that much Light without receiving the Traveler's gift but the Exo Hunter knew that it was indeed possible for there was a select group of warriors that were capable of wielding the Light and they supposedly existed during the peak of the Golden Age.

The Roseus family, the supposed children of the Traveler.

It looked like that family line hadn't died out after all.

00000

Good news: Nihileon was no longer using its power to reset. The Vex god was too damaged to restore itself even just a little bit and it had quickly caught on that resetting was not going to work on Fireteam Nero.

Bad news: they were running out of island to fight on. The Island of Vytal was already in a precarious state before the rest of Fireteam Nero arrived due to Nihileon's devastating attacks and Summer's talent in dodging. Throwing out even more destructive abilities in a Guardian's repetoir like they were going out of style was not doing the structural stability of the island any favors as parts of the land were crumbling into the sea, leaving them with less and less footholds.

Summer idly hoped that the people of Remnant wouldn't take offense for them destroying an important landmark riped with historical relevance. After all, it was a whole lot better than global annihilation.

Even worse news: Nihileon was really pissed off.

As it was being engufled between the Warlock and the Titan's attacks, the Vex god released a temporal shockwave from its body, blasting Lux and Prometheus back. The Exo Titan was sent crashing into the ground and was buried miles deep underground while the Awoken was sent flying uncontrollably into Remnant's stratosphere. Summer made to assist the submerged Titan only to smack facefirst into a dome of energy surrounding her.

Summer was trapped within a containment field meant to keep her out of the fight. She slammed her fist against the side of the dome but to no avail. Dismissing the Void bow, she unholstered Thorn and let off several rounds at it but it too had no effect. In spite of its fully unlocked corrosive properties, the Weapon of Sorrow could still be defended from by shields of pure energy.

"Guardian, that barrier is completely impenetrable from the inside," her Ghost, Drei informed her through the internal comms, "You'll have to wait for either Prometheus-23 or Lux Sylphid to break you out of that prison."

If she didn't have most of her emotions repressed to counteract Thorn's corruptive influence, the Hunter would have cried out in frustration. It also looked like Nihileon was keeping the rest of her Fireteam preoccupied to prevent them from freeing her.

Prometheus burst free from the earth in a volcanic erruption and the Hammer of Sol met with Nihileon's broadsword, creating a shockwave that could be felt throughout the entire island and possibly some nearby towns along the coastline in the continent of Sanus.

Nihileon shoved against its sword to push the Titan away but the Exo had a mastery over his flames to propel himself back towards the Vex god through a pseudo-flight. The Titan would dart around its form for an opening only to clash against the building-sized sword as they continued to exchange rapid blows against each other.

For a Vex, Nihileon was surprisingly proficient with a sword. Even if it wasn't so massive, it would still be a very deadly foe regardless with its swordsmanship and teleportation.

The clouds parted from each other as a six meter wide lightning bolt landed violently on the back of Nihileon's shoulder plate, leaving a large scorch mark and staggering it.

"Don't forget about me, you motherfucker!" Lux Sylphid bellowed as her electricity-wreathed form shot downwards and rained streams of lightning at the Vex god. In retaliation, Nihileon launched sonic waves from its sword at the flying Stormcaller. The sonic waves were nowhere near the same power as the first one used against Summer but their mere passing destabilized the Warlock's flight, causing her to fall out of the air. She was then beset upon by an overwhelming horde of Harpies and a couple of Hydras.

In spite of the obviously precarious situation that she was caught up in, the Warlock was still alive due to the copious amount of lightning bolts flying out of the gathered Vex units.

Knowing that the Awoken could take care of herself, Prometheus attempted to capitalize on the opening that the Warlock gave him but he was forced to pull out from his charge as he was nearly blindsided by a Hydra unit. The Titan raised his arm in front of him and conjured a shield of Solar energy to deflect the Void bolts from the Vex major. He reared back the Hammer of Sol and hurled the Solar manifestation towards the centipede-like cyborg. The hammer didn't explode upon impact of its armour but instead burned a gaping hole in its body, killing it instantly.

He quickly rematerialized the Hammer of Sol and turned to face the massive sword heading towards him at frightening speeds. Not having time to dodge, the Exo braced himself for a world of pain as the blade came closer only for a beam of pure plasma to hit the weapon's side, completely diverting it away from the Titan.

Summer appeared in a swirl of fiery rose petals and grabbed the Titan's outstretched free hand while slipping a fire Dust crystal into that same hand. She spun herself and the Exo around to add extra momentum before throwing him at Nihileon so hard that it broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom.

"That's the last fire Dust. Make it count," the Hunter told the Titan through the comm lines as she drew Thorn and shot at the flying Vex units attacking her Warlock companion.

The containment field that Nihileon trapped her in surrounded the Hunter from all sides except for one: below her. Altering her Golden Gun so that it would now shoot a continuous beam of Solar energy instead of Solar bullets, she tunneled her way out and back into the fray to assist her Titan companion. It also costed her almost all of the fire Dust that she had on her.

Already aware of the effects of the Dust crystal, Prometheus crushed it within his grip and he was instantly engulfed in a blazing inferno as he soared through the air like a miniature sun. Nihileon barely had enough time to raise its sword to block the Sunbreaker's attack but it was still knocked off its feet and was sent flying far above the sea.

The Vex units that were keeping Lux distracted were suddenly blasted away as the Warlock herself shot towards the airborne Vex god at supersonic speeds. Summer teleported herself in between Nihileon and the Stormcaller for a fraction of a second and swiftly teleported back to the slowly crumbling shore of the island before the Awoken could collide with her while leaving behind a lightning Dust crystal in her place.

The Dust crystal was reduced to powder as the Warlock flew through it and absorbed its power. The Awoken drew back and threw both of her arms forward, emitting a large ray of Arc energy from her hands. The gigantic lightning bolt slammed into Nihileon with devastating force and forcedly submerged it deep into the sea, electrocuting tons of fishes as well in the process.

Absorbing a gravity Dust, Summer summoned the bow of the Nightstalker and pulled back on the string as she charged the biggest Shadowshot that she had ever made. She released the string and let loose the javelin-sized arrow into the salty depths where it seamlessly swam through the water and hit the submerged Nihileon right at its mark.

The young Hunter was admittedly not as a well-versed with the path of the Nightstalker as she was with the paths of the Bladedancer and the Gunslinger. There were also a very limited number of Nightstalkers for her to get inspiration from but most of them were always outside the City's walls on excursions. However, there was one Nightstalker that she was able to place a milestone on.

Tevis, the original owner of the bow in her hands.

The late Nightstalker was so experienced with his bow that he had no need for other projectile weapons like guns since he could continuously shoot Shadowshot after Shadowshot for hours, even days at end. He could even focus the Shadowshot in such a way that it could match the destructive power of a Voidwalker's Nova Bomb and those were the arrows that he could shoot almost nonstop with.

Summer wasn't capable of replicating that feat since she only had less than a year to explore the full intricacies of the Void but making a Shadowshot equal a Nova Bomb and then some was still something she could do as shown by the violent displacement of water after the Shadowshot's detonation from miles deep underwater.

"You think that was enough to put it down?" Summer inquired as the rest of Fireteam Nero landed by her side. They still held the projections of their power out in preparation for another bout.

"It sure as hell was enough to piss it off," Lux remarked as she noted the surface of the water had started to bubble pugnaciously.

"If it was anything like Atheon, then the real fight has only just begun," Prometheus rolled his shoulders as the Hammer of Sol in his hand glowed brighter.

As if to prove the Exo Titan right, the seas parted from each other as Nihileon flared its unholy power and the floor beneath the waves could clearly be seen. However, what caught the Guardians' attention was not this show of power but the appearance of the Vex god in question.

"Did it just change its form?" the Titan asked in befuddlement as his teammates stared in equal confusement.

Nihileon's new form no longer resembled a giant minotaur. It now took on the shape of a Hydra except not only was it far larger but twice as long as its segmented body curled around in a serpentine manner. Spikes adorned its frame much like its previous form and since its body had more segments, it bore two times the amount of Aeon Mauls than the usual Hydra unit.

"That's new," the Hunter noted as she raised her bow and aimed another Shadowshot at it.

"We're still gonna kill the shit out of that thing," the Warlock stated as she called upon the storm within her and shrouded her form with Arc power.

Wordlessly, Fireteam Nero charged forward with the gifts of the Traveler's Light at their disposal as Nihileon rained down a tremendous barrage of explosive Void bolts at the three Guardians.


	45. Time's End

AN:

To all the guest reviewers that keep asking questions, either make an account if you want me to answer them or stop asking them in the first place since I don't bother to reply to every guest reviewer I get. The next time I see a guest review that only has a question in it and not an actual review, I will delete it. If you're not going to make an account, then please give me constructive criticisms instead.

However, I do have one thing to say the guest reviewer who asked about the Dreadnaught. Jesus Christ, why did you think I was going to bring the Dreadnaught to Remnant!? I said the Guardians were going to send their jumpships through the giant Vex Transfer Gate and _not_ _the Dreadnaught_. As much fun it would be to write the people of Remnant's reaction to a ship bigger than their moon, it couldn't even fit on Mercury much less the Transfer Gate, which was the size of a moon even smaller than Remnant's. I know the Vex have the power to bend time and space to a certain degree but that's kinda pushing it.

00000

Chapter 45

After Nihileon had changed into its Hydra form, the battlefield had transitioned to the open seas. The Vex god would hover above the Guardians and would fire energy volleys at them while they avoided untimely disintergration while riding their sparrows.

However, Summer was forced to share a sparrow with her Warlock companion since her own sparrow lacked the function to run over water while Prometheus exchanged his Cabal Interceptor for his sparrow since the former was not as agile to dodge the deadly barrage.

"Since when could sparrows run on water?" Summer Rose couldn't but ask to sate her curiousity as she sat behind Lux Sylphid as they rode on the Warlock's sparrow over the water's surface. The Awoken drove her vehicle in a serpentine pattern to dodge the exploding bolts of Void detonating around while Summer provided cover fire by firing the Shadowshots at the flying form of Nihileon above them.

"The Guardians going to Remnant had a mod installed in their vehicles that allowed them to function over water since we expected to travel over large bodies of water to get to our destination at least until our fleet gets through the Vex," Lux explained as she whipped her arm to the side in a slashing motion. Several Void bolts heading their way were instantly diverted away and harmlessly exploded by their side.

It took a Warlock great control and focus to use their telekinesis on something insubstantial like Void energy not coming from them but fortunately, Lux had both in spades despite being such a short tempered individual.

"You think I can get one for my sparrow?"

"Sure, it's actually pretty simple to install but after we kill this fucker."

"Agreed."

"Hey, Prometheus!" the Hunter called out to their Titan teammate as she pulled out the Gjallahorn from her inventory and threw it towards the Exo, "Catch!"

Not breaking his stride, Prometheus veered around a couple of Void bolts that got too close for comfort as he caught the wolf-engraved rocket launcher. He spared a brief reverent gaze towards the masterpiece of a weapon before hefting it over his shoulder and squeezing the trigger. The recoil of the launcher was strong enough to push his sparrow back a few meters as the armour-piercing high explosive warhead tracked the flying Vex god and detonated at its side.

After the initial explosion, the Wolfpack rounds residing in the warhead were released. The cluster of submunitions leapt away from the point of impact, falling back into a ring formation before homing in on Nihileon once more, detonating with all the force of their host missile.

It may not have been enough to kill the Vex god outright but it certainly dealt a significant amount of damage. Even against beings that could be classified as gods, the Gjallahorn was a deadly weapon to behold.

There were only a few copies of the Gjallahorn ever made and Summer took great pride in the fact that she was the owner of one. She was so protective of it that it resembled a mother wolf defending her cubs. She had even gone so far as to stab Lux in the hand once when the Awoken attempted to touch the rocket launcher without her permission.

It meant a lot that Summer was willing to not only allow Prometheus-23 to hold the ornate rocket launcher but to also wield it in combat. She indeed must have an immense amount of trust towards the Titan.

Even though the Gjallahorn was crafted from the armour of fallen Guardians, he did not wish for a single scratch to befall upon it since the young Hunter would be most upset with him if it happened under his watch. And an upset Summer was not a pretty sight especially when you were the reason for it.

Fellow Guardian Jerry Colins had learned that the hard way when he had foolishly called Summer short right in front of her face. Poor Jerry was never the same again.

The Hunter leapt off of Lux's sparrow and teleported herself to Prometheus' sparrow as the Titan fired another rocket at Nihileon.

"You fire while I reload," she told him as she took the Gjallahorn from him and replaced the empty magazine with a new one before handing it back to the Exo.

"Understood," Prometheus nodded before he fired another rocket while Summer accompanied it with a Solar bullet from her Golden Gun.

As Fireteam Nero's resident Titan, Prometheus was the biggest hitter they had and he was usually the one to whittle an Ultra-ranked enemy's health down before either Summer or Lux could deal the final blow. The other two were still capable of dealing an enormous amount of damage to Ultras but they were slower in inflicting the damage than the Exo so the fight would have gone on much longer without his aid.

Not one to be upstaged, Lux pulled out a couple of Scatter grenades from her coat and hurled them at the Vex god. The throw would have fallen short but the Warlock thrusted her hand forward while using her Light to will the grenades further so that Nihileon was within the grenades and their submunition's blast radius.

In retaliation, Nihileon unleashed a temporal shockwave that was strong enough to part the waves below it. The Guardians weren't close enough to the attack to be harmed by it but they were still knocked off their sparrows and fell into the sea.

Luckily, Lux and Summer's helmets allowed them to breath underwater just as well in the vacuum of space while Prometheus didn't even breath at all. Guardians couldn't die from drowning but having your lungs filled up with water was not a pleasant experience especially when the sweet embrace of death couldn't release you from that suffering. In a way, drowning without dying was a whole lot worse.

That wasn't all. The Guardians would be sitting ducks if they broke free from the water's surface where Nihileon laid in wait for them with Aeon Mauls primed. Their weapons were also not designed to function underwater while the Vex god's Aeon Mauls wouldn't be able to hit them as long they were submerged.

Unfortunately, the Vex were thought to have originated from an aquatic species as evidenced by how Nihileon quickly decided to chase after Fireteam Nero underwater. The Guardians barely swam out of the way in time but one of the spikes on Nihileon's body cut deeply into the Warlock's abdomen as it passed them by, spilling the Awoken's blood.

"Shit!" Lux swore with a wince as she placed a hand on the laceration to prevent her guts from literally spilling out. That was the last word she managed to let out before the water came pouring in her compromised suit. The salt within the water also intensified the pain of the wound but the Warlock had suffered through far worse than that so she didn't black out from the pain.

Nihileon swerved around and headed towards the prone Warlock to finish her off but Prometheus hurled himself in front of the Vex god with an improvised Lift. Raising his arm, the Titan projected his Shield of Dawn and batted Nihileon across the face with the wall of Void Light, knocking it away from the injured Awoken.

Tossing the Titan some of her Dust supply, Summer swiftly swam to her friend's side and took out a small vial full of wind Dust. Pouring her Light into the Dust, she crushed it and created an sphere-shaped space of air around them. The air sphere wasn't going to last long but it gave Lux's armour enough time to expel the water and repair itself. It still didn't do anything for her gaping stomach wound but it was already beginning to heal when the Hunter applied some of her Light to aid in the healing process.

"Alright, I'm pissed," the Awoken growled as she unsheathed the Solar Infinite Edge. The flames of the sword were so intense that not even being completely underwater was enough to subdue them as the fires burned on regardless, "That fucking _hurt_!"

"Then let's pay it back with interest," Summer said as she materialized Wilt and Blush. Bolt-caster was no use underwater since the electricity it emitted would end up hurting her as well. It would be more of a detriment than an advantage but fortunately, she had another sword in her arsenal.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Lux visciously smirked as she held the Solar Infinite Edge in a two-handed stance that was slightly altered to fit their current situation. Idly, she took note of the new weapon in the White Rose's hands. She wanted to inquire about it but that wasn't the immediate priority so she set the thought aside for now.

The Hunter settled into an Iaido stance to charge Wilt's Moonslice ability as wings composed of burning Light formed on the Warlock's back. The flames flowed into the Awoken's teammate, boosting her abilities as well as her own. Under the effects of Lux's Radiance, they nodded to one another before shooting towards Nihileon, moving unhindered by the water's natural resistence.

The two sword wielders dragged their blades along the length of the Vex god, carving two deep grooves into its armour and severing some of its Aeon Mauls in the process. They twirled their swords before sheathing them with muffled clicks as torrents of Solar and Void energy erupted out of Nihileon's wounds.

The explosions of Void and Solar were so powerful that it briefly created a space of air around Nihileon's form. Before the water could surround the Vex god once more, Prometheus dove in and brought his fists down in a mighty hammer blow but that wasn't the end of his attack as an intense burst of Arc was ejected from his body in a Striker's signature move, the Fists of Havoc.

However, the Titan had underestimated the strength of his Dust-augmented attack as Lux and Summer were forcefully propelled upwards by the backlash of the Fists of Havoc even though they were a considerable distance away from Nihileon. The female members of Fireteam Nero burst out of the water and roughly landed on a solid metal surface, judging the sound their impact made against the material.

"I'm gonna fucking kill Prometheus for that," Lux groaned as they pushed themselves up and surveyed their newest surroundings.

The metal surface that they landed on was a freight container. It was just one of the many other freight containers around them. The sea was still nearby and judginy by the boats docked here, they were now in a fairly large harbor, which was both good and bad for the Guardians.

Good since they were now back on solid ground. As adaptive as they may be, their fullest fighting potential couldn't be achieved while underwater, a problem that they planned to rectify in the future.

Bad since they were now in the docks of Vale with a Vex god out for their blood. They were now even more limited with their powers due to not wanting to cause collateral damage in a highly populated city. The combined destructive powers of Nihileon's arsenal and Fireteam Nero's Light abilities were enough to flattened over half the city before the battle could reach a conclusion.

As their duties as Guardians, they couldn't allow that to happen. With a resigned sigh, the Hunter and the Warlock resolved to dive back into the water to continue their fight with Nihileon.

But the decision was already made for them as Prometheus was launched uncontrollably out of the water and landed on both of them, breaking his fall with their bodies. They struggled for a short moment to untangle the limp body of the Titan from theirs.

"Hey! Watch where you're-" the Warlock cut herself off in mid-tirade when she saw Prometheus' Ghost, Pandora was hovering over his body with her shell open, exposing the blue core within. It looked like Nihileon managed to kill the Titan while the other members of Fireteam Nero were momentarily incapacitated.

"Shit, our Titan's down," the Awoken cursed as she called out her own Ghost and sent him towards Prometheus' dead body.

"Lucidius, please help Pandora revive him," she ordered firmly yet not unkindly. The Warlock's Ghost was only one that she would never take a sharp tone with. Their bond with each other was too great for that.

"U-u-understood, G-guardian," the youthful voice of the Ghost, Lucidius stuttered in affirmative. Even though Lux was the eldest of the group, her Ghost had a more timid personality like that of a youngling compared to Drei and Pandora and he had the tendency to stutter his words. To top it all off, he was also very shy so he rarely came out of the Warlock's inventory in the presence of other people, which was why he was often overlooked.

It didn't mean that he couldn't do his duty as a Ghost when called upon as he went to Pandora's side and opened up his shell. The Titan had used up most of his Light to deal as much damage against Nihileon as possible so it was going to take longer than usual to resurrect him even with two Ghosts working together. Maybe a minute or so.

"Drei, help them revive Prometheus," Summer called out her Ghost and ordered him to assist his fellow Ghosts. Now the revival time had been cut down by half.

But thirty seconds was still a long time in the middle of a battle especially when Nihileon had chose that exact moment to slowly emerge out of the water, gracing the city of Vale with its abominable aura.

Anyone that just so happened to be passing the dock that time collapsed to the ground whilst screaming in terror and agony, their feeble minds unable to comprehend Nihileon's might. Everyone else in the city were similarly affected but not to the extent of those in close proximity with the Vex god. They still maintained control of their mental faculties but they all had this overbearing weight on their shoulders as if telling them that they were about to die and there was nothing they could do about it.

The still living members of Fireteam Nero stood ready as Nihileon primed its turrets to obliterate them but the Vex god was suddenly bombarded with mortar fire from the Atlesian fleet that had quickly mobilized at the docks to contend with this new threat against humanity.

The size of the fleet wasn't as big as it was before the Breach and Vex invasion since a majority of them were spread out to reinforce the other kingdoms but the firepower of their airships were still nothing to scoff at.

But humans always had a tendency to attempt to defy fate. To refuse to surrender even in the face of certain destruction. That spark had brought them out of the brink of extinction numerous times in the past.

But the Darkness always sought to squash that spark of hope out completely.

More annoyed than hurt from the Atlesian ships' bombardment, Nihileon turned its attention to the airships and returned fire, wiping out over half of the fleet in one fell swoop while the wreckage crashed into the city and caused more casualties.

"NO!" Summer roared in horror, her concern for the lives of innocent people winning out against Thorn's corruptive powers. She swiftly unsheathed her swords, Bolt-caster in one hand while Wilt was in the other. She kicked off the freight container and launched herself towards Nihileon with both blades in her hands. She swung her swords as she passed the Vex god's form, cutting off several of its turrets.

But that was thing about the Light. Even if you quell the biggest Light there was, only more will take its place.

Lux cracked her neck and unsheathed the Solar Infinite Edge as a flash of light occurred next to her, signalling Prometheus' revival.

"What did I miss?" the Titan asked as he groggily got to his feet while the Ghosts phased back into their respective Guardians' inventory. He shook his helmet-cladded head and caught sight of the Hunter running along the length of the Vex god whilst swinging her blades in a series of slashes on its armour.

"Not much," the Warlock replied as she wiped off some dust on her friend's shoulder.

Nihileon tried to knock the White Rose off of it by ferociously whipping its body about but she was able to stubbornly latch on like a limpet by impaling both of her blades into its side. Twirling the Solar Infinite Edge, the Awoken teleported herself over the Vex god's head and plunged the fiery sword into its lone optical. The Vex god's flailing had increased in intensity due to Lux's attack and the female Guardians simply twisted their blades in deeper in response.

"Good, I was afraid I wouldn't be of any use," Prometheus said before he leapt after his Warlock companion with a flame-imbued fist reared back. Letting go of her sword and yet leaving it impaled in Nihileon's eye, Lux vaulted over its head a few moments before the Titan's fist collided with the Solar Infinite Edge's pommel, punching the blade clean through the back of its head where the Awoken caught it by the handle.

The female Guardians jumped off the greviously injured Vex god and smoothly landed by the docks as the lone male of Fireteam Nero plunged his hands into the hole he just made and forced it to widened just a little bit further. Once it was wide enough, he unslung the 4th Horseman from his back and shoved its four barrels into the hole before unleashing the shotgun's whole magazine into its insides.

The armour may be durable enough to tank a city-busting bombardment but what lay underneath the armour was another story entirely.

Nihileon let out a shrill screech as it thrashed around in anguish. It was now at its last breath. Most of its armour began to crumble away to reveal the cracked Mind core that laid within it.

Prometheus leapt off of Nihileon and landed by his teammates' side. Without another word, Thorn, Hawkmoon and Polite Denial 0/1 were taken out of their holsters and were aimed at the dying Vex god to send Fireteam Nero's final regard to it.

"Light's out," the three Guardians chorused as they squeezed the triggers of their respective hand cannons at the same time.

Three bullets shot out from the barrels and zoomed through the air before burrowing into the Mind core of Nihileon. The Vex god convulsed violently and let out another ear-piercing shriek as some parts of its body began to bulge out.

Turning around, the members of Fireteam Nero holstered their hand cannons and leisurely walked away as the Vex god's body exploded in an outstanding explosion.

Nihileon, Time's End was finally dead and another tally of gods killed were added to the legendary Fireteam's reputation.


	46. Interlude: Bystanders

Chapter 46

In the desert kingdom of Vacuo, a serpent-like monster of Darkness emerged from the sands. The creature was easily the size of a three story building and that was only the length of its body protruding from the earth for the rest was far longer.

The sandworm reared it head back to let out a thundering roar to signal its arrival only for it to be suddenly silenced as a silver blur passed by its head. A short second later, its head slid off its neck in a clean diagonal cut before the rest of its body sunk into a lifeless heap.

A heavily armoured masculine figure landed some distance away from the deceased Grimm as its severed head landed behind the figure. The figure wore intricately designed armour with fur-lined shoulder pads. His helmet had a single intact horn while the other had been snapped off in the past.

In the figure's hand was the weapon that he used to handily execute the Grimm. The weapon was a claymore tall as the man wielding it and was two (human-sized) heads wide. Engraved on the blade's side was a leafless willow tree. But what stood out on the most on the sword was the fact that it continually generated flames hot enough to crystallize the sand beneath the wielder's feet.

"Hmph, I expected more from the so-called creatures of Darkness," Lord Shaxx, one of the most powerful Titans in the City scoffed in dissatisfaction as he absently swiped his sword, Executioner one-handedly to the side, sending a giant wave of upturned sand and killing scores of both Grimm and Vex with that simple motion, "I finally decided to leave the City for a decent bout and yet I find myself surrounded with disappointments."

The Crucible handler leaned the claymore on his shoulder, unmindful of the flames on the blade for they would never turn against their creator and master. He turned his head to where he sensed that surge of Darkness as he caught a Creep about to bite him with his free hand. He then proceeded to crush its skull by applying a mere _fraction_ of his immense strength, not even deigning the pathetic creature worthy of dying by his sword.

"What I wouldn't give to be a part of that battle now?" the veteran Titan mused as he saw bright flashes of energy bolts detonating from the source of all that Darkness. It must have been a lot of power if he could see some of the battle from his position in Vacuo. That must be the leader of the Vex here and by the Traveler, _he was missing it!_

Nevertheless, Shaxx's wants were not important. As much as he desired to race off to challenge that undoubtedly worthy foe with his burning Light, he still had a duty to uphold in the kingdom of Vacuo. The people may be strong enough to survive living in these arid conditions but it would be remiss of him as a Guardian and Lord to leave them to fend for themselves.

After all, it was the duty of the strong to protect those weaker than them until they could stand on their own two feet.

00000

The strong lived and the weak died. Those were the rules that Raven Branwen and her tribe had lived by for so long. In this cruel world that was Remnant, only the strong survived and those that lacked strength were left to perish.

Strength and might were all that mattered for without them, you cannot hope to protect anyone let alone yourself.

The Branwen twins didn't enroll into the prestigious Beacon Academy because they wished to be protectors of mankind. No, they attended that school for Huntsmen and Huntresses because they wanted to attain more power to survive.

Beacon may have made them strong but at the same time, it also made them weak. During their time in the school, the twins formed these attachments with their partners that would only serve to drag them down in their path to power. Raven was able to sever those ties before it was too late but Qrow did not.

Needless to say but they no longer saw each other as family.

Regardless, the responsibility of leading the tribe now fell unto Raven and she must do whatever it took to ensure the tribe's survival in the face of this Vex threat even if it meant allying with her former partner, Summer Rose.

However, seeing that bumbling dolt once more reminded Raven why she left in the first place. At least Rose was a much better fighter now. Raven may have disliked Rose's personality but she could respect the Guardian's strength for what it was.

Then the leader of the Vex showed up.

Team STRQ had already been briefed by their leader on what the Vex were capable of and what they should expect from a Gate Lord but judging from Summer Rose's reaction, that was no mere Gate Lord.

Just being in that monstrosity's presence was overwhelming. It felt like Raven was suffocating and bearing the weight of a mountain on her shoulders at the same time. She somehow knew down to her very soul that if this monster willed it, then she would certainly die.

The masked woman also somehow knew that Taiyang, Qrow and even _Salem herself_ felt the same thing. The rules of nature had decreed that this entity was the strong and that _they_ were the weak. As the weak, all they could do was wait for their deaths. It was a bitter pill to swallow but they resigned themselves for failure.

All except for Summer Rose, the sole target that this metal monstrosity had its optics on. Even though she bore the full brunt of its ire, her resolve didn't waver in the slightest, only strengthened.

The White Rose stood firm against the enitity and simply lifted her weapons up higher. Instead of calling for a full-on retreat, she ordered for the rest of them to leave her behind to face this great foe.

As much as it pained Raven to admit, Summer had grown so much more powerful that she was the only one on Remnant that had a chance at beating that thing.

In the meantime, Raven focused on transporting herself, her estranged twin brother and her former lover to the safest place on the planet at the moment: Professor Ozpin's office. Even then, they could sense the power that being possessed if only faintly.

Her semblance dropped off TRQ in the middle of the coffee addict's clockwork themed office where they fell to their knees, not from exhaustion but from involuntary relief at having escaped that Vex entity. If the man whose office they so rudely barged into was surprised to see them, he didn't show it on his face.

Seriously, nothing seemed to faze that man.

The same couldn't be said for some of her old teammates for they didn't seem to appreciate her timely intervention.

"Raven, what were you thinking!?" Taiyang bellowed at her as he roughly grabbed the scruff of her blouse, "Take us back! Summer needs us! She can't take that thing on alone!"

Raven would have cut the blonde man down for his insolence but fortunately for him, her brother chose to placate him before she could grip her nodachi.

"Tai, you saw what _that_ _thing_ was and you sure as hell felt its power," Qrow pulled his old partner away from her, "As hard as it is to swallow, that monster's simply way out of our league. Even _Salem_ herself was sent running with her tail between her legs by just looking at it."

The remaining members of Team STRQ sharply turned their heads to the side when they heard the sound of porcelain shattering. Ozpin's ever present mug laid on the floor in pieces with its contents spilled about while the man himself held the look of absolute _shock_.

Now _that_ had gotten a visible reaction from the seemingly infallible headmaster.

"If we don't stand a chance against that monster, then what does Summer have?" Tai deflated in resignation. The hopelessness and despair crumbled down his resolve and left a broken man in his place once more.

As if to reinforce their low morale, the faint presence of that Vex monstrosity _flared_ , bringing Taiyang, Raven and Qrows to their knees. Even Ozpin was affected that if he wasn't already sitting down, he too would have collapsed.

Then they saw it from the their viewpoint in Beacon's tower. A shockwave of _titanic_ _proportions_ burst out from where TRQ previously was before the unparalleled attack dispersed somewhere in the kingdom of Mistral. No doubt that _all of Remnant_ saw that attack no matter their position on the globe.

"Oh my god," Ozpin murmured to himself in apparent horror as he idly noticed the damage reports that immediately came popping up on his desk's holo-screens. And those were from that devastating attack alone.

The headmaster of Beacon had plenty of nightmares on how the world would end but they were either about the follies of mankind or the Grimm growing too numerous and powerful to stop. Not even in his wildest dreams did he ever thought that the end would come from the stars.

As all hope seemed lost, a brief audio message was sent to every working communications device. Hearing the contents of that message managed to reignite the flickering embers of hope. It wasn't the same bonfire as it was before but a small spark was simply an inferno in the making.

"Attention to the people of Remnant. This is Cayde-6 of the Vanguard. The Guardians of the Last City are here to help."

But it was always darkest before the dawn. And the dawn had finally come for all of Remnant as over dozens of jumpships came down from the heavens to deposit the Guardians they carried.

But Taiyang Xiao Long could not shake off this strange sense of foreboding that was somehow _even worse_ than the being that he had later learned was called Nihileon.

00000

Salem finally made it back to her palace and away from that abomination. The Grimm Witch half stumbled and half dragged herself to the throne where she fell upon the throne in an exhausted heap.

She couldn't care less that she looked less than dignified for she was too relieved to have successfully escaped Nihileon's grasp. Not like the entity actually cared to stop her from leaving but she nearly died all the same as she made her escape.

The power that Nihileon possessed was unfathomable and it her feel like a mere pup standing before an Elder Drake. It was not a good feeling in the slightest.

Salem's only hope of defeating the Vex god was to unlocked the power hidden within the Wizard's tomb and claim it for her own but that was impossible for the island of Vytal already belonged to the Vex.

She would have to somehow lead Nihileon away from Vytal and open the tomb herself. A task easier said than done as the humans called it.

At very least, the Grimm Witch needed to keep a close eye on Nihileon just in case an opportunity to get to the tomb dropped by or to see if she should relocate her position to a nice cave somewhere that the Vex wouldn't find her in.

Fortunately, her Seers did not possess the same primal intellect as her other children so they should be capable of withstanding Nihileon's presence even for a short while and then they would relay useful information back to Salem.

Who knows, maybe Nihileon would kill that wretched Summer Rose for her?

Instead of being greeted to the sight of the Vex god brutally murdering the White Rose in hundreds of different ways, she saw the Huntress along with two other warriors being wreathed with the powers of Light while soundly trouncing Nihileon with their combined strength.

Seeing the three Guardians display of power, Salem knew for certain that she would have only lasted for less than a minute against them. It was quite humbling to learn that she was merely a speck compared to the greater powers out there in the stars.

It also made Salem desperately yearn for the simpler times to return. Where she was sure of her superiority and the proceedings of all of her plans and that there were no 'Guardians' to thwart her goals. She desired for everything to make sense once more.

00000

 _Earlier_

"You're _Cayde_!" Yang said in surprise as she pointed at the Guardian in question, having remembered where she heard that name before, "You're the guy who taught our mom!"

During the Team RWBY's downtime, Summer Rose had beguiled with some stories of her adventures and had mentioned Cayde several times. She told them that not only was the man her mentor but he was also the Hunter Vanguard, a position that was only given to the best there was, which explained the elder Rose's significant leap in skills and experience.

"The one and only," Cayde admitted as he did a theatrical bow with the extra waving of his hands to further emphasized it, "At your service."

Ruby and Yang giggled at the Guardian's showmanship while Blake and Weiss were a bit taken back by such a display from the sentient android. Despite being a robot, he showed a lot of life in his every word and action. If they had not known already, then the first year team would have continued assuming that Cayde was a flesh and blood being just like the rest of them. Even then, they subconsciously began to see the Guardian as more alive than most people they knew.

Such was the charisma of a Vanguard. Being the best wasn't enough to lead an army. You had to be someone that people would willingly follow to the depths of hell itself and back. As much as he disliked his position, Cayde was a pretty damn good leader that could win almost anyone over.

"I'm sure your _mother_ ," Cayde stopped for a moment to shiver at the thought of Summer reproducing before he reluctantly continued, "Told you a lot about me."

" _Then there's the father,"_ the Hunter Vanguard thought as he discretely held the hilt of his knife in a vice grip. Let us just say that he had big plans for Taiyang Xiao Long. Big plans that involved knives and a lot of bullets.

"Yeah, she did but she never mentioned that you're, uuh…" Ruby trailed off, trying to find the proper word to describe Cayde. It was a good thing that Cayde was more than happy to assist the young girl.

"Exceedingly dashing?" the Hunter Vanguard playfully suggested as he spread his arms apart like he was under a spotlight.

"No, she meant her mother never told us that you were a-" Weiss Schnee tried to correct but she was interrupted.

"A swashbuckling rogue?" he posed dramatically as if he was about to engage in fast-paced combat.

"No, I think she never said that you're a-" Blake Belladonna tried to intervene only for him to cut in once more.

"A robot with a soul?"

"NO!" Yang exclaimed, getting fed up with the Hunter Vanguard's annoying deflections before she realized what he actually said, "We mean a ro-wait, that's right."

"Yeah, I guessed as much. I skimmed through the records and other than Penny Polendina, there are no records of synthetics capable of generating an Aura," Cayde said matter-of-factly, "While seeing an Exo i.e. me for the first time may come as a surprise, Exos had become so ingrained with our society that the word humanity and mankind also automatically includes us."

When he said skimmed, the Exo Hunter really meant that he and his Ghost broke through every encrypted file that the Atlesian military ever had so he now knew all the dirty little secrets of the kingdom of Atlas. Their firewalls were pitifully easy to crack.

Was it illegal? Yes for this was a severe breach of privacy but it was necessary. If the Dr. Merlot that he met and killed prior to meeting with Team RWBY was any indication, then there were some other scientists that would strive for results no matter the moral repercussions.

The research that they were working on was nothing that the City's foundry had not already discovered like creating AI's with Aura (this Penny Polendina and the Exos). Contrary to popular belief, the top brass actually _had_ discovered a way to create more Exos so they had the power to build an army of the Exos like back in the Golden Age but doing so would go against everything a Guardian stood for.

The Exos that still existed to this very day were already done with the war and unless they were reforged as Guardians, they would like to keep it that way. It wouldn't be morally just to make more and not give the new Exos a choice in the matter.

With that said, knowledge on how to build Exos had been locked away and they wanted to keep it that way.

Cayde was broken out of his musing when he heard several incoming transmissions on his comms. Listening to them all in his head, he was glad to see more good news had come their way.

"As much as I would love to talk you with you lovely ladies, our fleet has just arrived and I'm gonna have to go order them around now, seeing that I'm their boss and all," the Hunter Vanguard told Team RWBY before he accessed every communication device on Remnant, "Attention to the people of Remnant. This is Cayde-6 of the Vanguard. The Guardians of the Last City are here to help."

After the Vex were taken care of, Cayde had a certain old yellow dragon to meet (beat to a bloody pulp).

00000

AN:

Another interlude than an actual chapter. Also, I don't know if Lord Shaxx has any official weapons that he prefers to wield but I'm sure a master swordsmith like him would use a sword to fight.


	47. When All is Said and Done Pt 1

AN:

To the guest reviewer Nomad: I know the idea of the City being able to produce more Exos but kept it a secret is pretty farfetched in your opinion since only Ghosts could understand the inner workings of an Exo but you forgot to consider that the City has _a lot_ of Ghosts at their disposal so it would be simple for them to ask some Ghosts to scan a couple of Exos to draw up the schematics for them. Then, presto! They now know how to build an Exo but they decided not to do it due to several reasons like ethics and lack of proper resources.

One more thing, this time for everyone else: I'm gonna take a short hiatus for a while but don't worry, it's only going to last a week or two so I will still continue Remnant of a Rose. Just be patient, ok?

00000

Chapter 47

Yes! At long last, the power was finally within Cinder Fall's grasp. Were she any less disciplined, she would have jumped in joy but she was much too dignified for that so she settled for the self-satisfied smirk on her face to widen. The elevator doors opened before her and she then stepped out, heels clicking on the tiled floor as she approached the tube where the comatosed Fall Maiden was being kept.

It was surprisingly easy to find out where Ozpin hid the girl when the False-soon-to-be-true Maiden by searching for the records of where energy was being used and there was a large supply of energy being unaccounted for that seemingly went nowhere. With her technical expertises, Cinder tracked the source of this unexplained energy and traced it to a secure room under Beacon Academy.

Even with the virus implemented into the school's computer systems, it would have been too risky for Cinder to delve too deeply into the records but fortunately, the thought to have been deceased Dr. Merlot tampering with the security control centers gave her the opening needed to find out where the Fall Maiden was being kept.

She only had to wait for the newly reinstated Team STRQ to be deployed to make her move since Ozpin was too preoccupied overseeing the war efforts while any other Huntman that could pose a threat to her plans was already out on the frontlines.

And now, it was all coming together. Cinder wasn't able to achieve her goal of sabotaging the Vytal Festival but she would gladly settle for a much bigger prize like the full power of Autumn.

The amber-eyed woman held out her left arm as fire gathered together to form an obsidian bow in her hand. She then materialized a pitch black arrow in her right and nocked it on the bow. She pulled back the string to as far as it could go while taking a deep breath before releasing the arrow as she exhaled.

The arrow flew true and easily pierced through the glass separating the patient within from the outside. The arrowhead dug into Amber's heart, making the girl startle into consciousness for a brief moment before death's cold swept her away. The flickering embers of her eyes faded away as the power of the Maiden escaped the now corpse to seek out its other half.

Cinder welcomed it with opened arms as she took her rightful place as the Maiden of Autumn. Floating slightly off the floor, she let out a laugh of exhilaration as the fires of Autumn came pouring out of her hands and eyes. The mind's eye that she never knew that she had burst open and let her see the world through much more clarity than ever before.

Now, there was nothing that could stop her. Not Ozpin. Not Summer Rose. Not even the Ve-

A powerful dark pressure suddenly came crashing down on her shoulders and slammed her onto the floor. Her fiery spirit was violently snuffed out as her mind's eye spotted the shadowy power that loomed over her. It was so unbelievably massive that even with the full power of Autumn at her disposal, she was nothing but an ant compared to it.

An ant that it was trying to decided on whether or not it was worth the effort to squash beneath its feet. After what felt like an eternity, the presence deemed her inconsequential and left her be.

Never in all of her life did Cinder ever feel grateful for being looked down on.

00000

It was done. Nihileon was finally struck down even though it costed the lives of hundreds if not thousands of bystanders to achieve victory. Now, there was no longer a need for Thorn's full power.

Summer held the Weapon of Sorrow in front of her. She stared at its jagged frame and her eyes lowered to take in the sight of the glowing runes on her arm. The Hive writings on her limb were incomprehensible to mere mortals but the Guardian could understand them all the same.

 _Rend. Tear. Devour. Destroy._

Those were the meanings of the series of runes etched upon her skin and glowing through her armour. Fitting really since Thorn was forged to do exactly that.

A part of Summer was tempted to let the Weapon of Sorrow remain in its unlocked form. With the power to kill in a single shot and her own gifts of the Light, the Hunter would be unstoppable as proven with Nihileon's death.

Almost as soon as the thought came to her mind, she ruthlessly snuffed it out for that kind of thinking led to madness. With that said, she chanted the Hive incantation of Sealing under her breath while her teammates from Fireteam Nero kept a close eye on her.

The extra spikes on Thorn's barrel slowly retracted and the eerie green glow it emitted gradually dimmed down to nothing. The process may have been simple but it was by no means painless for the Weapon of Sorrow stubbornly attempted to latch on to her being.

The Hunter let out a scream of pain as the thorny tendrils of the Weapon of Sorrow were viciously torn out from where it had taken root in her soul. She gritted her teeth as her free hand gripped the rune inscribed forearm so tightly that it left an imprint of her fingers on the gauntlet. She nearly bit her tongue as another anguished cry threatened to escape her lips but she was able to reel it in.

The moment Thorn returned to its sealed state, Summer suddenly felt lightheaded and she would have collapsed to the ground if it wasn't for Lux Sylphid catching before she could. In the Warlock's arms, she idly saw her teammates' worried expressions looking over her as her vision began to blur while slowly drifting into unconsciousness.

00000

"Summer!" Lux called out to the woman in question as the young Hunter's knees gave out from under them. The Awoken sped past Prometheus and caught the White Rose before she could fall. Idly noting Thorn slipping from Summer's grasp and dispersing back into the Hunter's inventory, she had her Ghost examine the Hunter to see what was wrong and she was both relieved and worried to find out that the youngest member of Fireteam Nero's Light reserve was at an all-time low.

Guardians no longer experienced physical exhaustion and they were trained to ignore mental ones as well but Summer's case was that of the soul, the most integral part of a Guardian for if it was too weak, it would not be able to return to the body if they died. If the soul was still in the body, then the Guardian in question would enter a sort of healing trance akin to what normal humans would go through when injured.

In a few short hours, possibly less, Summer would be back on her feet like nothing happened as long as nothing bad happened to her body while she was still recovering.

"I guess she must've been fighting Nihileon for quite some time now before we arrived," Lux surmised as she laid the young Hunter on the ground with her head resting on the Warlock's lap, "You self-sacrificing heroic idiot."

"It was still a lot more preferable than the alternative," Prometheus said as he dismissed his helmet, Jovian Guard and he looked past the many curious bystanders staring at them in wonder to see the fires burning in the wrecked city of Vale, "This could have been much worse but if only we could have stopped Nihileon sooner."

"No use dwelling on the what-ifs," the Awoken replied as she carefully lifted Summer up in a bridal carry, "I'll call a team to quarantine the docks so they can salvage Nihileon's parts. You can head out to the city to help any survivors."

"Understood," the Exo nodded as his helmet rematerialized before he set out to the city. In spite of his bulk, he was a blur to the untrained eye and was shortly out of sight.

"Guardian, the f-fleet has m-m-made it to Remnant," Lux's Ghost Lucidius informed her through her helmet's internal comms, "Transmat for your j-jumpship is also ava-va-vailable right now. Would- would you like me to ca-call for the Ceres Galliot?"

"Yes please, that would be very kind of you, Lucidius," the Awoken spoke softly with a kind smile under her helmet, "Oh, could you also have Drei bring in the Cloud Errant to take Summer."

No sooner did she say that, a light-blue ship with oddly shaped wings descended from above, followed by the young Hunter's own jumpship. Summer's sleeping body broke down into blue particles and was transported into the Cloud Errant before the same happened to Lux, transferring her into the Reef-based jumpship.

Unlike the NS22 Cloud Errant model, the Ceres Galliot was much more up to date and possessed an overall better performance. This was due to Summer spending most of her Glimmer on weapons than jumpships while the Awoken's passion was with jumpships so not only did the Warlock have a more well-maintained ship with the best modifications, she was also the best pilot out of the three members of Fireteam Nero.

"So Drei, where should we drop off Summer?" Lux inquired as she saw a team of Redjacks being deployed around the docks on one of the jumpship's monitors. The androids then established a barricade by moving around some of the freight containters and rubble to block access to the area.

"The most ideal location would be Beacon Academy," Summer's Ghost answered as he took control of the Cloud Errant, "It should be much safer than a hospital and I believe it's about time we introduce you to my Guardian's daughters."

"…What?"

"It's a rather long story. You should also put Guardian Prometheus-23 on the line since he also deserves to know."

00000

Prometheus-23 gripped the edge of a particularly large piece of rubble and with a slight huff of exertion, he lifted the heavy masonry like it weighed nothing. Since he had the strength to shatter entire city blocks, it most likely didn't to him.

Underneath the debris was a family of three, who looked up at him with dirt-streaked faces. With deliberate care, the Titan set the ruined wall that previously trapped them to the side where it wouldn't hurt anyone.

"I found some more survivors that require medical attention!" the Exo called out to the approaching team of paramedics.

After setting out to the city, Prometheus had provided his assistance to the relief efforts to the collateral damage that their battle with Nihileon had caused. By now, he had saved the lives of a good number of people that the paramedics would have been too late to reach.

"Are there anymore we missed, Pan?" the Titan asked his Ghost as he pulled out another injured civilian from under the city's wreckage.

"None that are still alive, Guardian," Pandora responded in a solemn tone as he bowed his head and sighed, "I'm sorry."

"It is alright, Pan," he reassured her as his gaze swept across the city of Vale, "You did the best you can under the circumstances."

The city had already sustained significant damages prior to the Guardians' arrival but Nihileon changed that when it shot down about numerous Atlesian airships, causing them to crash and explode into the city below. Fortunately, the lone gargantuan Atlesian warship managed to survive the deceased Vex god's onslaught or else the damages would have been much more severe.

Vale may still be standing but it was going to take some time for the people to rebuild it to a shadow of its former glory.

Most Guardians never really worried about collateral damages because all of their battles occurring far from civilization. Their battles also took place either in some ruins from the long gone Golden Age or deep into enemy territory so the Lightbearers could afford to be a bit more liberal with their destructive capabilities.

But this time, the people of Vale had paid the cost of Fireteam Nero's battle against the avatar of Time's End. Nihileon may be responsible for the majority of the collateral damage within the city but what was once the city's docks was Fireteam Nero's fault.

However, Lux had a point. There was no use dwelling on what-ifs.

"So are you going to continue to observe me or would you be kind enough to show youself to me?" Prometheus called out to his hidden follower. Being friends with a highly skilled Hunter gave the Titan an acute awareness of his surroundings that only the very best could get the drop on him.

It was quite easy for him to detect the one following him even though she was trying very hard to be subtle about.

The Exo waited patiently as a teenaged girl stepped out from behind her hiding place.

The girl had short, rather curly orange hair that came down to her chin, and she wore a pink bow on the back of her head. She also had bright green eyes, light skin and freckles. She wore an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings.

Overall, she looked like a normal human girl but Prometheus' eyes told him that it was just the surface for underneath that entire layer of synthetic skin was an Exo like him.

As the older and evidently masculine android scanned her, the revealed Exo did the same to him and she was surprised by what she found.

"You're…you're just like me," the orange haired girl stared at the Titan in wonder as she hesitantly approached him like a curious doe.

"Yes, I am," Prometheus said softly as the Jovian Guard dematerialized around his head, surprising the younger Exo of his clearly mechanical features. He didn't see any information about Exos on what data they had on Remnant and the City made it a habit to keep track of its citizens so he could guess that this girl was the only Exo on this planet, thus necessitating the need to hide her true nature in a human-dominated world.

Prometheus, on the other hand, had no need to hide what he really was so such openness was quite astonishing for the Remnant-based Exo.

"My name is Prometheus-23 and I must say that it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss…" the Titan introduced himself before trailing off meaningfully.

"Oh," the girl caught his intention and promptly introduced herself as well, "Salutations! I am Penny Polendina! It's a pleasure to meet you as well!"

00000

" **Even after all this time, you are still too weak, Guardian."**

On high alert, Summer Rose shot up and instinctively reached for her weapons but was surprised to find that they were not there. She was about to order Drei to give her weapons to her but there was a very important detail of her surroundings that stopped her from doing so.

There was no surroundings. Only what appeared to be the deep void of space and yet she knew it wasn't actually space due to her being able to breath with no problem and her lack of a helmet.

But what really told her that it wasn't reality was the gigantic head with long horns that extended to either side and the three glowing eyes in the shape of an upside-down triangle leering down at her.

"Oryx, is that you?" Summer asked, more confused than worried as she stood some distance away from the Hive god in question. Just a few months ago, being face to face with the Taken King would have instilled so much fear within her but the Guardian had already conquered over him several times. Bound by his own Sword-logic, the Hive god could do nothing but serve her as was Summer's right as victor between them.

" **Obviously."**

"How are you here? You're supposed to be locked up in the Vaults."

The Touch of Malice was sealed with the biggest locks in the galaxy so there should have been no way for Oryx to be in her head once more.

" **PAH! As if mere distance could cause the bond we share to disappear completely. Our souls are far intertwined with one another for that."**

"Heh, I guess using Thorn's power opened me up to the Darkness and gave you enough leeway to get back in my head. So what brings you here?"

" **You need me."**

"…No, I don't," Summer declared but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him.

" **You wield the fragment of my sword, my knowledge allowed you to unlock Thorn to its fullest capabilities and even now while the Darkness in your soul attempts to consume your mind, I am what stands between it and yourself. So on the contrary, Guardian, I. Think. Not."**

Oryx was right. Summer needed him. Her combat effectiveness had grown even further once Bolt-caster was forged from the fragment of Willbreaker. She wasn't strong enough hold off Nihileon on her own for long so she resorted to falling back on the Taken King's knowledge to unleash Thorn.

Out of all the myriad of monsters that Summer Rose had fought, Oryx was undeniably the most powerful and the most dangerous. Several Fireteams, including Fireteam Nero were sent to kill the Taken King both times he appeared and only one Fireteam managed to survive his wrath, which was Fireteam Nero while the rest were summarily slaughtered. Even then, Oryx came terribly close to extinguishing their Light permanently.

Nihileon would have stood no chance against her if Summer had the Touch of Malice and used the unlocking chant on _it_ to fully take Oryx's powers and titles for her own. With the power of the Taken King added to her own power, nothing could stand against her.

But at what cost.

Oryx and his siblings had ravaged countless worlds just because they could. Dredgen Yor did the same except on a lesser scale for the same reasons but Summer wasn't like them. Was she?

" **You need me, Guardian. Without me, the Darkness will squash all that you hold dear, including your precious daughters."**

"How am I suppose to protect them from the Darkness if I succumb to it?" Summer shot back defiantly at the mention of Ruby and Yang, "How am I suppose to be a warrior of the Light if I become _you_?"

"Besides, what do you get out from all of this? You hate me and still do. Don't deny it. Our bond goes both ways so I can tell that you hate me with every fiber of what's left of you," the Hunter glared venomously back at the Hive god, "So tell me what do you get out from helping me? From making me even stronger than you?"

" **The strong live and the weak die. Those are the most sacred rules of the universe. When the weak are killed, the strong will inherit all of their being and in turn, become stronger. You, Guardian, have broken this hallowed decree when you struck me down and yet laid no claims to my powers and titles."**

"You want me to continue the cycle of your sword logic…" Summer said in realization, "But won't that remove any sapient thought you have left?"

" **An existence of nothingness is the much better alternative than having to listen to your hateful** _ **puns**_ **for the rest of eternity."**

"Oh, _come on_!" she exclaimed as she threw her hands up, "Puns are clever!"

" **No. No, they are not, Guardian."**

"What, do my puns make you break out in… _Hives_?" Summer retorted, chuckling a bit at her joke.

Even though it looked like her jokes weren't being appreciated once again, the Guardian felt immense satisfaction at the expression of exasperation on the Taken King's decrepit face.

" **Oh by the Worm Gods, not this again…"**

"Do you want me to give you some _space_ ," she gestured to the illusion of blackness of space around them.

" **Stop this at once!"**

"Don't like it? I thought for sure you would've been _taken_ in by my sweet, sweet puns."

" **RRRRGGGHH, BEGONE!"**

As Oryx swiped his giant arm across her form, a wide smirk crossed the White Rose's face. The smug expression still persisted even while her mental representation of her body dissipitated into nothingness, launching her back into the waking world.

But not without getting the last word in.

"I guess it's about time I _Rose_ from my slumber."

" **RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"**


	48. When All is Said and Done Pt 2

AN:

I'm back. Did anyone miss me?

This will be the last chapter of Remnant of a Rose but don't worry, there'll be a sequel.

00000

Chapter 48

"I just want to talk to him," Lux Sylphid said in a seemingly calm tone as she walked towards the tower of Beacon with a clear purpose.

"Lux, I'm just as surprised as you are with this revelation but you should not act so rashly," Prometheus-23 followed after the Warlock, trying to convince her without physically touching her lest the Exo would become the newest focus of her wrath.

The Awoken was the perfect example of composed and regal as her long coat billowed behind her like the cape of a hero of justice and the intricately designed helmet, Seraph II gleamed brilliantly. Even the feather-engraved barrel of Hawkmoon that she shamelessly brandished in her hand helped exemplified this image.

But it was too bad that Lux was actually seething on the inside. A fact that Prometheus was all too aware of.

"I just want to talk to him," the Warlock repeated as if saying it again would convince the Titan otherwise but he could tell that she was not sincere in the least.

"I would be more inclined to believe you if you put the gun away," the Exo retorted as they both sped up their pace.

That and she was currently prepping the exotic hand cannon like what she always did right before she was about to use it.

As they walked the halls of Beacon Academy to meet with a certain blonde man, many students paused to watch them go by. They all stared at the two Guardians with equal amounts of awe with just a bit of fear. But the two members of Fireteam Nero paid no mind to this since they were rather used to the attention back in the Tower.

If they actually cared at the moment, they would have wondered what prompted this reaction from the populace. The reason for that was simple. Since the last part of the fight against Nihileon occurred in the city of Vale, there were numerous recordings of Fireteam Nero in action and those videos had spread like wildfire all across the web, establishing their popularity to the people of Remnant.

It may not have been the whole fight but the legendary fireteam had shown their incredible god-killing prowess. Plus, cool guys don't look at explosions.

"This happened before we knew Summer so Taiyang Xiao Long is not at fault and we have no right to punish him for that," Prometheus, ever the voice of reason in Fireteam Nero. It was a shame that the other two members hardly listened to him at times.

"I just want to talk him."

"I am detecting high levels of aggression," the Exo's other companion, Penny Polendina felt the need to comment, "I recommend to proceed with caution."

After the Exo of Earth and the Exo of Remnant introduced themselves to each other, the older android explained in detail to the younger android that he was in no way created by the same people who made her. He also had to tell her that there wasn't twenty-two other Prometheus' before him.

To anyone else, they would have found the young Exo to be quite annoying with her incessant questions but Prometheus was _very_ patient to a fault so he kindly asnwered the ginger-haired girl's question as best as he could. While conversing with the girl, he took the opportunity to learn more about Remnant by having his Ghost, Pandora search through Remnant's network, which was where he discovered that Summer Rose was originally a denizen of this planet and that she still had a family currently living here.

Saying that the Exo Titan was shocked by this was an understatement but he felt glad for his surrogate younger sister. It must have been good to be reunited with loved ones that you never knew you had and Summer needed that more than anything.

The expulsion of Summer's former partner, Diana Collete left a rather large gap in the young Hunter's heart that not even her fireteammates, Shiro-4 or Cayde-6 could fill. She tried to hide it behind a positive façade but her closest companions could tell that she still missed her wayward partner very dearly.

However, Prometheus was the only one that could think of that at the moment since Lux (and probably Cayde as well) were too focused on the fact that in order for Summer to have given birth to a daughter, she required a man to 'deflower' her.

So for now, the Titan had to stop his friend from severely harming Taiyang Xiao Long, the father of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long for a transgression that happened a literal lifetime ago instead of congratulating Summer and meeting her children.

Just one of the many downsides of being the only sensible one in Fireteam Nero.

"Thank you, Penny but do you mind leaving me with my friend here?" Prometheus said to the ginger-haired girl as he gently brushed her to the side, "This is a private matter and I wouldn't want you to get caught in the crossfire."

"Oh, of course, Friend-Prometheus-23! I wish you luck with your mission to pacify your comrade," Penny said, giving him a jaunty salute before skipping away.

"I just want to shoot him," Lux stated as she cocked Hawkmoon, not even acknowledging the Remnant-based Exo's presence and departure.

"You're not even going to deny what you're going to do to him anymore," the Titan sighed in exasperation as he he shook his helmet-cladded head. A loud ding alerted the two members of Fireteam Nero and they snapped their heads to see a nearby elevator deposit the very same man that Warlock hoped to meet (beat to a bloody pulp) and that the Titan wished not to meet under the current circumstance.

Taiyang Xiao Long noticed that they were staring at him and he appeared to have recognized them as the Guardians fighting alongside Summer from no doubt the videos. Assuming that they might have an idea where his former leader was, the old yellow dragon made to approach them.

Dread filled Prometheus as the man unknowingly stepped ever so closer to his doom. Not wanting to leave the former member of Team STRQ to that fate, the Titan did the only thing that he could do.

"If you value your manhood and life, then flee while you still can!" Prometheus shouted at Tai in warning before he promptly tackled Lux Sylphid to the side. The air was knocked out of the Awoken's lungs as the Exo slammed into her side. Their momentum didn't stop there though as they crashed through the wall beside them and were sent plummeting several stories down.

"What just happened?" Taiyang asked in confusion as he turned to his former partner, Qrow Branwen for answers. He was even desperate enough to ask for Raven's input if she haven't already left for Mistral through her semblance.

"The hell would I know," the scythe-master shrugged his shoulders as he took a swig from his flask only to stop short after realizing that it was now empty, "Damn it, gonna need to refill this later."

The brawler neared the gaping hole that the two Guardians just made and peeked through it to see if the Guardians were alright. He quickly pulled his head back as several high-caliber rounds whizzed dangerously close to his face. The bullets flew close enough to slice off some of his bangs. If it wasn't for his superb reaction time, then they would have hit him right in the face instead.

"What the hell!?" he exclaimed in shock before ducking behind the wall. He didn't bother risking another peek since he could tell that whoever shot at him was skilled enough to shoot at his face with pinpoint accuracy from just a handgun albeit a powerful one. Showing just a tiny part of him would already be enough for the eagle-eyed marksman to aim for.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU SEXY BASTARD!" Lux Sylphid roared from where she and Prometheus had landed before the Titan tackled her form once more and placed her in a submission hold, which she broke free from by blasting him with a force of concussive energy, sending the Titan flying. Swapping Hawkmoon for Queenbreaker's Bow, the Warlock fired at the Huntsman above.

"Tai, you blonde bastard! You told me that you were outta the game after Summer died!" Qrow yelled as he glared at the blonde man in accusation.

"I am!" Tai retorted as the dusty old crow was also forced to hide behind cover to avoid getting hit by the fusion-sniper rifle hybrid, "I have no idea why she's trying to kill me!"

"What other reason that some crazy bitch wants to kill you can there be, you fucking manwhore!?" the male Branwen twin yelled back as he briefly popped his head out of cover to glare venomously at the Xiao Long patriarch before he quickly pulled his head to dodge the energy blast that nearly singed his face off, instead searing off some of his facial hair.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CRAZY BITCH!?" another hole was was blasted open on the wall as the Warlock hovered in the air with wings of fire and flames pouring out of her visor.

"Shit, we're fucked," Qrow stated calmly as the Guardian with Maiden-like abilities set her sights on the two Huntsmen.

The two members of Team STRQ unsheathed their weapons and prepared for the fight of their lives right before a loud bang echoed while blood and gore gushed out of the Warlock's chest. Shocked, the blonde man and the black haired man stared at the Awoken as she fell to floor dead. Behind the female Guardian was the Titan wielding a rather large shotgun with the four barrels smoking.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that," Prometheus-23 climbed through the hole as the two Huntsmen noticed that the Warlock was still moving slightly to their relief and worry. Seeing it as well, the Exo lowered the 4th Horseman and unleashed another round of buckshot on Lux's downed form, finishing her off, "My teammate is prone to losing control of her emotions and usually makes brash decisions so again, I apologize."

"You just killed your own teammate," Taiyang muttered as he gawked at the dead body of the Warlock.

"Yes, I did," the Titan winced as he slung his shotgun behind his back, "She is going to be most upset with me after she revives so I suggest we vacate the premises as quickly as possible before that happens."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Qrow said as he shamelessly stepped over the Guardian's corpse. From what he remembered when Summer was resurrected, it took about a few seconds for it to occur. He did _not_ want to be anywhere near there when the godslaying Guardian came back to life.

He also needed to drown himself in the nearest bar after thinking people coming back to life was a _normal_ thing. He was too sober for this shit.

00000

Summer Rose suddenly shot up from her slumber but immediately came to regret it when her head collided with the upper control panels of the Cloud Errant's cockpit. She fell back into the seat, hissing in pain and gently cradling her bruised cranium.

"I'm not sure if you had anything to do with this but I just know that this is somehow your fault," Summer groaned, feeling a tinge on the back of her mind for the Taken King's presence. She was glad to see that only an echo of his influence was left behind just like when she separated herself from the Touch of Malice.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Guardian," Drei greeted her as he hovered over her shoulder.

"Did I die again?"

"Not really. You just collapsed from Light exhaustion," the Ghost answered.

"Oh, good because that would suck," she said as she examined the state of her armour.

Other than Order's Mask, the rest of her armour was still functional but they definitely required to be buffed out to repair the damages. There was only so much the smart micromaterial of a Guardian's apparel could do. She would have to place it in storage for now so it could fix itself.

As she was about to disperse her armour, she caught sight of something on her gauntlet. Her silver eyes widened in surprise when she saw the burn marks that were shaped in the Hive runes for render, tear, devour and destroy.

Not even in her right mind to disperse the Ghost Angel gauntlet into her inventory, Summer tore the gauntlet off of her left arm and she was beyond shocked to see that the Hive runes had also been branded on her flesh.

No, her very _soul_.

Summer had been injured enough times to tell which scars would carry over a resurrection and which ones would not.

Injuries from the common grunts wouldn't even leave a mark behind after a Guardian's healing factor kicked in while biggers things like explosions could scar but they would instantly fade away to minor burn scar after a resurrection.

And then there were the scars that never truly healed. The ones that no amount of revival would ever remove. Like the great scar across her chest that Oryx had inflicted on her with Willbreaker and the multitude of smaller scars along her arms and legs from when Crota's sword managed to graze her.

The swords of the Hive gods cut more than just flesh. They possessed the power to sever the very soul itself, making father and son extremely dangerous foes for Guardians to face. The many comrades that fell before their blades were a testament to that.

And as it turned out, Thorn also had the ability to affect the soul from how the Hive runes were now permanently etched upon her left arm. The runes still tingled with unhallowed power albeit weakly as they secreted small black wisps of Darkness.

It looked like there were still some lingering side-effects from wielding the Weapon of Sorrow for too long. It would be too farfetched to hope that it was purely cosmetic since she could detect some minor Darkness clinging onto her limb. Even if she were to amputate the afflicted appendage and revive herself to regrow the limb, the runes were to imprinted unto her being so would just reappear again on the new arm.

"There is always a price to pay when dabbling with the Dark arts," Drei solemnly said as he too examined her scarred left arm with a critical eye, "Only time can tell what kind of price you paid for unleashing Thorn once more."

An alert one of the screens snapped Summer out from scrutinizing her latest set of scars. There on one of the monitors was Team RWBY just disembarking from a bullhead while being accompanied by the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6 of all people.

"What's Cayde doing with them?" she wondered out loud before shrugging her shoulders with a smile, "Might as well find out."

The White Rose may not know the full extent of Thorn's lingering corruption but she had much more important things to do like making up for lost time.

"Drei, beam me down," Summer ordered her Ghost as she placed the glove back on.

"Understood, Guardian," Drei replied as her form broke down into blue particles and was deposited in front of the first year team and her mentor, "Have fun. You certainly earned it."

"Missed me?" Summer smirked as she waved at the surprised girls and amused Exo. She was then immediately tackled by a red and a yellow blur and found herself being squeezed with great force as twin cries of "Mom!" echoed across docking area.

The Rose matriarch landed on her back yet her daughters, Yang and Ruby were still able to cling onto her body in a tight hug.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," she laughed as she hugged them back.

No matter what the future may hold, Summer was not going to leave her precious girls ever again.

00000

AN:

The End

…

…

Just kidding!

00000

A lone figure traversed the barren wasteland, their boots crunching on the rocky terrain with no clear purpose. Under the dark red-stained sky, the figure strolled by several pools of viscous tar-like substance and purple crystals sprouting from the ground without a care in the world.

As for the figure brave (or foolish in other's opinion) enough to be in this godforsaken land, they wore a long cloak that covered their form but calling it a cloak would have been too generous since it had worn down so much that it now resembled a pile of rags draped together while their face was shrouded in shadows by the hood of the cloak.

The mysterious figure didn't stay alone for long as a large number of Grimm crawled out of the pools of sludge-like Darkness. Many red eyes of the Grimm zoomed in on the figure with utmost loathing and rage. This being dared set foot on their Mother's domain and was even arrogant enough to not fear them.

This interloper would have to pay with their life for this transgression.

The creatures of Grimm rushed towards the interloper with reckless abandon and they were rewarded for their unsatiable bloodlust as a single red eye glowed from under the figure's hood with sinister intent.

A glint of metal was the only warning that the first Grimm had before its head was abruptly chopped off with brutal force. That same Grimm had yet to fade into dust when the rest of its brethen followed the same fate as they too were cruelly chopped apart by the similar flashes of metal.

The source of those flashes revealed itself to be the weapon in the figure's hand.

The weapon in question was a kukri, a knife with a highly curved inwardly blade. It was primarily designed for chopping and it could be used as both a tool and as a weapon in this case.

But the most noteworthy detail of this blade was that it was mainly wielded by a certain group of people with specific skillsets.

Hunters.

The figure tossed its raggedly cloak to the side to reveal what was previously hidden by the outer garment. The figured revealed that it was in fact a she and that she was cladded in dark red leather and grey chiton-like armour. Draped under a black hood with strips of cloth attached to the back was a helmet made out of the same strange material as the rest of her armour.

This particular female Hunter favored the Darkhollow armour set with the the cloak of the Shadowsmiths to complete the ensemble.

"Well, you're quite the eager bunch," the Hunter mused as she unsheathed another kukri knife and assumed a fighting stance with both blades in hand, "I suppose I have time to play before meeting with your boss."

With that said, her form was replaced by a small dust cloud as she reappeared next to a Beowolf. The knife in her right hand stabbed into the left side of the lupine creature's neck, which the Hunter used as leverage to vault over it while throwing the blade in her left hand at an Ursa. The curved knife twirled through the air before slicing through the ursine Grimm's skull as she pulled out her kukri from the dead Beowolf to slash a Creep in half. Acting like a boomerang, the second kukri knife sailed around the air, severing handfuls of Grimm in two before returning to its wielder's hand.

With both blades in hand, the Hunter reversed her grip on them and plunged them into the ground beside her. Instead of dull thunks, two wet slicks were heard as the Grimm that laid buried under the ground to ambush the Hunter were extinguished.

The Hunter extricated her kukri knives and twirled them in concentric blurs before they abruptly stopped spinning and slapped solidly in their owner's hands, "The hunt has only just begun."

For the next few minutes, the Hunter had exterminated waves upon waves of Grimm without breaking a sweat (not like she was capable of sweating anymore) and she was beginning to find it tedious so she decided to carve out a path through the Grimm towards her destination.

It was there that the Hunter faced another obstacle in the form of a man.

The man had pale skin with gold eyes and a brown ponytail braided to resemble a scorpion's tail. He wore a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to it, along with white pants. His jacket was left open, exposing his bare chest, which was crisscrossed with prominent scars. His arms were covered with purple bandages and leather vambraces. He also wore leather boots covering his entire shin with knee guards. On each earlobe was a silver, ring-shaped earring, and near the top of his left ear was another matching earring.

And the man also happened to be absolutely furious with her presence.

"You-you-you INFIDEL!" the man roared as he stood hunched over in anger, "How DARE you _defile_ her Majesty's domain with your fffFILTHY presence!"

"If _her majesty_ has someone like you under her command, I can't imagine how I can make it any worse than that," the Hunter scoffed as the clearly deranged man twitched erratically at her words, "I'm starting to think that this _Salem_ is just a waste of my time."

"SACRILEGE! HERESY! BLASPHEMY!" he bellowed as he gripped the sides of his head and shook himself violently side-to-side, "Must purge! Must cleanse! Must-"

"KILL!" the man spread his arms apart as the mechanisms on his bracers unfolded to reveal a pair of blades on each arm that resembled the pincers and carapace of a scorpion.

The insane man crouched low before launching himself towards the Hunter, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. He would have caught any lesser foe off guard but this particular opponent was not to be underestimated.

The Hunter spun on her heel as a spinning ring of fire materialized on her left ankle. At the end of her spin, she raised her left leg with the buzz saw-like attachment in a kick to meet the deranged worshipper's wrist blades.

A mighty shockwave of epic proportions was created from the collision of their attacks, completely leveling the area around them. The two combatants were sent flying from each other.

"Well, this is going to more challenging than I thought it would be," the Hunter noted observantly as she smoothly landed on her feet.

Landing on all fours, her adversary merely growled like a wild animal before rushing at her with blades raised for another deadlock.

"Challenging but not impossible," she added as pitch-black wisps curled around her form like a cologne right before the man known as Tyrian appeared behind her with an arm raised to strike her down.

00000

Salem opened her eyes as she heard the sounds of conflict coming from outside her throneroom before slowly coming to a stop. She kept her face impassive as the doors to the room slammed open with a loud bang and a figure was unceremoniously thrown in.

The figure bounced across the floor a few times before rolling to a stop to show the bruised and bloody form of Tyrian, one of Salem's most trusted lieutenants. The Grimm Witch spared the beaten form of her follower a oh so brief glance before gazing at the one responsible for the unstable man's condition.

"Why have you come here?" Salem inquired with a regal tone as she leaned back on her throne, "What purpose do you seek in my domain?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" the Hunter answered her question with another question as she stepped into the throneroom and came to a stop in front of her throne, totally ignoring the defeated man's existence.

"I would normally assume that you are here to kill me since you are garbed the same as those accursed Guardians," the Grimm Witch stated calmly as if they weren't about to erupt into violence at any moment, "But from what I can smell of you, I highly doubt you are one of them. Or at least, not anymore."

From her short encounter with Summer Rose, she could sense that Guardians were great beacons of Light and that being near them was enough to perturb her children's composure.

But the being before her was no Guardian.

Like how Guardians were containers of Light, the Hunter was a vessel of so much Darkness that the Grimm initially left her be until Salem ordered them to attack her on sight.

"Very astute of you," the Hunter inclined her head in respect as she projected her dark presence, quelling any doubts of where her allegiance laid, "You are correct. My brethen and I have long since forsaken the Light to embrace the Darkness."

"Your brethen?" Salem noted with an arched brow.

"I am Dredgen Vena, a member and representative of the Shadows of Yor," the Hunter introduced herself with a slight bow, "And I am here to invite you to our fold so that you may expand your gifts that the Darkness has bestowed upon you."

The greatest champions of the Light may have arrived on Remnant but there was one thing that should always be remembered. The greater the Light, the more shadows that it would cast.

A great Light had made itself known on Remnant that day but at the same time, so did the shadows that could counteract it.

00000

Now, The End.

Yes, Dark Guardians. I just went there. Besides, what a perfect way to counter Guardians than with other Guardians and the Shadows of Yor presented with an interesting plot device for me to use.

I have seen many fanmade Darkness subclasses on the internet that inspired me to go with this particular plot device. But I mostly got my inspiration from this specific link: /gallery/hH5pX. Check it out if you have the time.

I have already made Darkness subclasses for the Hunter but I'm stumped on the other two subclasses of the Titan and the Warlock so I'm open for suggestions if you're interested.


	49. Get hyped!

The sequel to Remnant of a Rose is out now!


End file.
